The Christmas sewing is almost finished :D

I got these panty pouches finished a few days ago - they're "indirect" Christmas gifts - I offered to make them for our oldest son's girlfriend, to give to the ladies in her family :)  She popped over the other night (after we had a girls night out!) and picked some fabric from my rather extensive stash - and I whipped up the bags and dropped them off for her - I hope she - and her ladies - like them!  :)

And now we have some new projects :D  First up is a poop pillow, but unfortunately, it didn't work out very well - I should have trimmed the inside seams better - I think that would have given me smoother curves.  I could make any number of jokes here but I'll refrain :D Will be trying this again in the new year, LOL.  Bay Leaf I like yours way better!  :)

Another new project - here are a few simple bear puppets I made for some neighbour kids - they worked out quite well, but I think they look very plain.  I'm going to make more (but after Christmas, lol) and will change them up a bit to make them snazzier :)

So sorry about this picture - it's so dreary and rainy outside, and dreary and dark inside the house - I just can't get a good picture of these pillows.  I made them for some young family members - I call them Storytime Teddy Pillows - I thought the kids could plop on them when mom and dad are reading (or when the oldest is reading to the younger ones!) - they're from this tutorial.  I wanted bigger pillows - the tute calls for a 12" pillow form, but I used 18" pillows for extra comfort :D  One last new to me project for today!

As these are all Christmas gifts, I'll link this post to December's Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew and New to Me in December linky parties :)

December bag it finishes - lots of work :D

Of course Christmas sewing is now in full swing, so I have a bunch of finishes to post - and lots of them qualify for the Bag It! challenge, YAY :)

Up first are a couple of drawstring gift bags for some little guys I know, who shall NOT remain nameless ;)

Here's a new to me project - Shark Week pouches :D  The blue one was my trial run, and after I redid his eyes (which were too high), he looks a lot better :D  These close with a snap, and I'm giving them to the younger ladies on my gift list :D




Here's a gift that I'll be mailing out soon - a Retreat bag (without frames), a Shark Week pouch, and some goodies to tuck inside - bone and syringe pens, kitty sticky notes, kitty key cap cover, EOS hand lotion, and chocolates :D





Another gift ready to mail - Retreat bag (without frames), book suitable for a grammie who wouldn't need a Shark Week pouch, chocolates, owl key cap cover, EOS hand lotion, bone and syringe pens, and little leaf sticky notes :)






One last gift ready for mailing - a treats Retreat bag (no frames) with Shark Week pouch, chocolates, bone and syringe pens, sticky notepad, EOS hand lotion, and chocolates.

I'm so pleased to have these all finished and ready to mail - up next at my sewing machine are some puppets :D

Posted to Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew for December :)

I'm just a puppet on a string ... or on a table, at least :D

Gift sewing is well underway now - here are some photos of finishes from the last week :)  Blogger, as usual, has it's own ideas about photo and text placement - apologies for the weirdness  >:)

"Use up scraps" flex frame bags - they'll go to Blue Hills :)

I'm very pleased with this hand puppet!  I didn't have a pattern to go by so I found a basic puppet pattern online, and modified it to be more beaverish.  He's perched over a spool of bobbin thread to keep him upright - you can see him leaning against it in the last picture.  He may or may not have gotten into the eggnog last night, hence the leaning ... ;)  This is a Christmas gift, that will go with Brandon Beaver that I made recently :)

This bag is made from fabric from a set of FQs I picked up ages ago @ Joanns - this will go to Blue Hills - the picture at the bottom is a close-up of the doggy charm I used for the zipper pull - it's antique looking, not holey or damaged, lol. 

 This bag is a Christmas gift for someone with a much loved dog - they travel with her so I thought that she could use the bag to carry her immunization information, any medication she takes, and perhaps some fancy doggy treats :D  The close-up at the bottom shows the twin needle quilting and the bead I used for the zipper pull :)

After I took this picture the camera went blaruupzzzt so I didn't get to take a photo of the inside.  This is my second Retreat Bag, and will be a Christmas gift.  I love this design :D  The pattern is free, and the frames are available here (NAYY).  I have more frames coming, and will be making more of these for Christmas gifts :)   My first Retreat Bag is here - it turned out a bit floppy because I didn't use enough interfacing.  This one is quilted with regular quilt batting layered with Pellon Featherweight sew-in interfacing - that's what was easily accessible to me so that's what I used.  The combination is JUST right :)  The lining is also interfaced, but with Pellon lightweight iron-on interfacing - I buy it buy the bolt from Joanns, where it's 1/4 of the price it is here in Canada :D

Hmmmmmmm I just looked at all of my pictures - the fabrics for all the bags came from Joanns trips, and the fabric for the puppet was from our LQS - apparently I do a lot of shopping @ Joanns ;)

Posting to Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew for November, New to Me for November, and Bag It!  :)

This is what I do instead of housework :D

When I read this post from Elm Street Quilts, I knew immediately that I had to try it out.  I grabbed some vinyl and got sewing.  Well, actually when I grabbed the vinyl (shower curtains purchased from the $ store a few weeks ago) and opened the bag, the chemical smell was very strong so I had to hang that puppy outside to air out.  Then I cut up the bag it came in, to use for this project, lol.  This was FAST and it is CUTE.  I posed it with some Wonder Clips because they're very helpful when it comes to sewing with vinyl :D  Another one for Bag It! and for New to Me for November - I'm on a roll!

I guess I should go do some housework now - sewing is more fun, but sometimes, as we know, you have to pay the piper ;)

Boxies for Bag It! and Busy Brown Beavers :D

I've been busy!  I wanted to make some boy themed bags for the counselling center this month - I still have more cut out, but here's what I have so far.  The first 4 can be entered into Bag It!, but the shark bag was finished in October so it's not being entered.  It would win a prize for sheer cuteness, but just not in Bag It, LOL!

Boy boxy bags for Bag It - I have another one (or two?) bag(s) kitted from this fabric as I wanted to use up the whole piece :D

Several more boy bags for Bag It! ... and check out the goldfish zipper pull on the fish bag!  ;)

SHARK!!!!!!   I'm very sure a young lad will quite enjoy tucking his treasures inside this cutie (I can't resist picking some of this fabric up whenever I go to Joanns - I hope they carry it forever :D:)

My first Brandon Beaver project - pattern from Shiny Happy World (NAYY) :)  He's very easy to make!  Thanks Nancy for the wool for his sweet cheeks :D  The book behind him is another part of the gift - I got it from Amazon.ca :D

This is what he looks like from behind - the stitches closing him up look like they were done by a mad scientist or drunken surgeon - if the fabric had been more patterned my poor stitches wouldn't show so badly :D  I'm going to have to rip them out and redo them - I can't gift it the way it looks - it's making me crazy :D

His tail, though!  I like big tails and I canNOT LIE!  :D

This post will go to Bag It!, Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew for November, and New To Me in 2015 also for November :)

Bag It! Retreat Bag version :D

I recently completed a new-to-me bag design that uses special internal frames:

Photo shamelessly stolen from Janelle @ emmalinebags.com (I hope you don't mind, Janelle!)

I can't even remember where I first saw the finished bag, but when I realized that the frames were from emmaline bags, I knew I could order them without incurring huge shipping fees, as she's also in Canada :D  I ordered 2 sets of frames to play with them, and shortly after they arrived (ok, it was more like a month after they arrived - I don't rush into new designs quickly because I'm a big ole chicken, LOL) ...

Oh wait - PLAY TIME FIRST - having fun playing @ fotoflexer :D

Blueprint :D

Drawing (this one is my favourite!) :D

This one is called Lomoish :D  I have no idea what it means, but it's cool :)

And here we go - the photo before it got flexered, lol!

I like my bags on the soft side so I didn't use the "dense fusible fleece" that the pattern called for - I only used my usual batting, with matchstick quilting.  I'll add something more the next time I make this - I think it would look better with a bit more body.   The bag is easy to make - VERY easy to make - I'm waiting for Janelle to get more frames in so I can make more of these little beauties!

Posting to Bag It! and to this month's Celtic Thistle Stitches New to Me linky when it gets posted :D

Oh yes, I bagged it :D

A couple of days ago I posted about a challenge I recently found, called Bag It!  Patty from Elm Street Quilts is running it - basically, we create and share bags that we've made (between Nov. 2 and Dec. 14).  This one definitely has my name written all over it, LOL.

Here are several of the bags I've made since November 2 - my first entries for Bag It! :)  I've actually finished several more but I try to do them in sets so when the set is finished, I'll take pictures :D

This is the one I started on Saturday - I like to call it my "I'm not a  hot pad! birdy pouch", as this is Crafty Staci's August hot pad of the month, in zippy form :D  This was a new to me project, and I'm very pleased with how she turned out :)

Here's beaded butterfly pouch #2 - I posted the first one on November 3, and got this one finished a couple of days ago.  I wish I was able to get close-up photos of the beading, but I don't have a great camera.  I used clear and turquoise beads on some of the butterfly spots - it does look sweet, IIDSSM!

 Here are the two bags, side by side - both are Christmas gifts :)

This is a pattern I did once or twice a while ago, and decided to revisit for this challenge.   I forgot that this is a bag better suited to non-directional fabrics - my scotties on the back are upside-down, and then, while that goof was fresh in my mind, I cut out two more bags ...with directional fabrics as well, lol.  Hopefully I won't make that mistake a 4th time :D

 And here are the bags I worked up this morning - they were inspired by this post, and I've already made one (that I can recall!) :D  I thought it was a good one to do for the challenge!

Here's the back of the bags :)   6 bags so far - the counselling center is going to score big-time after this challenge!






The hot pad zipper bag will be posted to Celtic Thistle Stitches' [hi, Fiona - Novelty Pouch Factory signing in, LOL!!] New New To Me linky party for November  :)

Halloween and Christmas finishes :)

I can never figure out why two photos taken in the same place within seconds of each other, will come out so differently. Case in point - these two pics were LITERALLY taken seconds apart, in my basement.  Bizarre!  Weird colour shenanigans aside, I made a bunch of candy corn zippies this year for the greats (niece + nephews) and my young neighbour kiddies - I tucked candy inside, then tucked the zippy into a Halloween cello bag with glow in the dark bracelets and rings - I think the kids will like them :D

Here are most of the other candy corns I did - I think I made 11 altogether :D  I'm quite pleased with how these turned out - IIDSSM, I think they're adorable :)  (The actual colour is brighter than the photo shows - this is another example proving my lack of camera savvy!)

Halloween pillowcases for a couple of the greats - I had different fabric bought for the cuffs but - as other sewers know, fabric can shrink a LOT when it gets washed, and mine did!  It shrunk so much that it wasn't usable for the cuffs, so I used stash fabric instead.  Thank goodness for a huge stash *ahem* :D

May I introduce you to Casper?  I finished him last night - he's a Christmas gift for a little one in the family :)  The pattern is Cosmo Caterpillar from Two Little Banshees - I can't find it available online anymore - I got it, ages ago, @ fatquarershop.  It's very quick and easy to work up.  I got the Very Hungry Caterpillar ribbon (used on the bib) from Ebay a while ago - it's actually what the gift is themed after :D

Things don't always work out as planned - my first attempt at the caterpillar gift set, didn't go as well as I would like.  I matched the flannel I used, to the colours of the actual Very Hungry Caterpillar.  The sewing is fine, I didn't (and still don't) like the look of the finished pieces - they look too plain, too boring.  I knew I wouldn't be happy gifting them because they don't feel *right*.  When I saw Casper in blue, I knew I'd made the right decision to redo him :D

Posting to Celtic Thistle Stitches' Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew for October (blue gift set) and to New to Me for October (the candy corn and caterpillar #1 :D)

The days are flying by :D

September has been a productive month - not so much for blogging, but at least, for sewing :)  I've finished up bits and pieces of fabric and supplies from stash, made some goodies for Blue Hills, and finished up some Christmas gifts.  I even found time to research and buy a new dishwasher - my old one was in pretty bad shape, and Maytag wanted $250 to replace JUST THE BOTTOM RACK.  Unbelievabley rude :D  (Of course, I'm replacing it with another Maytag, so the joke just may end up being on me, LOL).

Here are a few recent finishes:

Michelle Patterns Zip Pocket Pouches - the pattern must not be available now, as I don't see it listed in her store (NAYY).  I'm glad I got it ages ago - it's a great design :)

Boxy pouches - using up fat quarters :)

Sea turtle bibs - embellished with sea turtle fabric to use up the last bits and pieces :)

Sea turtle stuffy - a new to me project :)  I had to use the wayback machine to bring up the pattern and tutorial for this project, as it's no longer online - just call me Miss Marple :D

Sea turtle quilt - sorry about the fold marks - it's been sitting on the couch for a few days while I waited for the sun to come out for the picture :)  It's a D9P quilt, and it measures 51" x 51" (approx.).  The sea turtle and yellow TOT fabrics were from Joanns, and the batik is from a local quilt store.  

Here's a closer picture of the sea turtle fabric ... and the folds, LOL.

Picture of the quilt back - notice that the center block is patchworked from scraps :)

Close-up of patchworked center block.

The sea turtle items are part of a gift which will also include this book - it's been pre-ordered - I'm just waiting for it to arrive :D

Touch 'n Feel Little Turtle board book - ordered from Amazon.ca (NAYY).

Posting to Celtic Thistle Stitches New to Me in September linky party ... and to the Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew linky party, also for September :)

New to Me and Ho Ho Ho ;)

Happily, I'm getting some sewing projects done now, and I'm quite pleased with my progress :) Actually I'm mainly pleased that I finally feel like sitting down and sewing - I hope my mojo keeps mo'ing and jo'ing :D

First up are a couple of Christmas gifts to tuck into my Christmas box - these will be posted to the August Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew linky party :)

Zipper bags using the last bits of the train fabric you see in each bag.  These are scraps from a basket set I completed a while ago :D

Another scrap user-upper, I made this basket with the last of some fabric I used for Christmas pillowcases :D

This next picture is a birthday gift that has now been given to the recipient's nonna and nonno :D They'll deliver it to the birthday boy when they see him in a few weeks :)  The set consists of a pillowcase, wallet, cups, DVD and book in a TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) theme - I added a fun car pen because it was the right colour, lol.

TMNT set for a soon-to-be 5 year old :)

I bought a Bendy Bag (Lazy Girl Designs) pattern over a month ago and finally got to try it out.  The technique for the cool bag shape is new to me (and VERY creative!) but the steps to complete it, are very simple.  So I tried it.  And was successful :D  Here's my first one - it worked out so nicely!   This will be posted to the New to Me linky party for August :)

First attempt at a Lazy Girl Designs Bendy Bag :)

I was so pleased with my first bag that I got 3 more kitted ready to sew, lol!

Posting to New to Me for August :)
Ho Ho Ho and On We Sew for August :)