Zippy pouch progress

I may have had a zipper epiphany. A zippiphany, if you will. And it all happened while experimenting with this little pouch:

Cute enough, right? Although I feel a little bit sorry for the poor red birdie on the ribbon who got his beak smooshed in the seam allowance. Oh well. But look at corners by the zipper ends. Not nearly as wonky, angled, not-crisp-cornered as my previous pouches. This makes me very happy!

A little close-up of the patchwork, topstitching and crocheted lace.

And look at those cute little cherries inside!

So, I may be ready to give myself a zipper break and move on to some other fun projects.

Patchwork Pouch and Pajama Palooza!

Zippers. Oy. I mean, I can put one in and all but they still kind of bug me. I figure I just need practice. Lots and lots of practice. So I made some stuff with zippers:

I've also been trying to get a handle on my scraps so I figured patchwork zippered pouches were the way to go. Basically, I'm happy with how they turned out.

One is teeny tiny. The patchwork is made up of 1" squares. My loose change now has a happy home.

This little wristlet was made for my daughter. Her favorite color is orange. I'm very happy with this one and will probably end up making a mommy-sized version for myself at some point.

I even added one of my stamped twill tape tags!

Little Miss B gives her seal of approval.

But oh my heavens! - did you see those pajamas?! I mean, they're cute and all, but they're hand-me-downs from her brother. Don't get me wrong, she loves dinosaurs and she doesn't care one bit about the hand-me-down aspect. But boy jammies? She may be a tomboy but she does like to get her girl on. Plus, I did buy this pile o' fabric to make my kiddos some pajama pants. And pajama pants I have MADE!

The shirts were cheapo end-of-season t-shirts that are perfect for jammie tops. The pattern is a basic elastic waist pull-on pant. Super easy, super fast to sew and each pair takes less than a yard of fabric. An awesome combination, just like these two:

Summer Love

Ooops! Apparently, I spoke too soon as it's now raining. Oh well, it's Oregon, right?

Anyway...one of my favorite things about late summer is that I finally get to make this:

Roasted corn and tomato salsa. So so yummy!

It's a family tradition and I usually end up making about three big batches before summer's end. Best of all, it freezes well so we can enjoy it even after the fresh corn and tomatoes are long gone.

So, who wants to bring the margaritas?

Cute Alert!

Lookie what I found at Goodwill for two bucks:

My daughter wants it. Bad.

But I've made it very clear that this particular item is mine. All mine.

It holds other cute items:

I had a pretty serious obsession with Hello Kitty when I was ~ahem~ younger. It seems I never quite got over it. I mean, how else can I explain denying my very own daughter this sweet treasure? But I did. And I don't have even a twinge of guilt.

A New Favorite

If you haven't checked her out yet, go visit Ayumi over on Pink Penguin because she makes some pretty fabulous stuff. She's also super generous with the tutorials and often has some real gems in her etsy shop. She recently made a bento lunch bag for her husband and was kind enough to share her pattern with the rest of us in this tutorial.

As soon as I saw the bag, I knew I wanted to make one for a friend of mine who is a knitter. We had dinner recently and she pulled out her latest project in a plastic grocery bag! I said to myself: This will not do! She needs a cute knitting bag!

Voila!

One of the really cool things about this bag is the drawstring cover. It's a really lovely detail.

This bag was made from a cotton/linen blend with a colorful Henry Glass print for the rim and some random print from my stash for the cover. The lining of the bag and back of the handles is a green sheet from IKEA (which happens to be an almost dead on color match for Kona peridot, in case you were wondering).

So, after making this bag, I really REALLY wanted to make one for myself as well. So I came up with this little patchwork number:

I'm using it as my purse right now and love it! One of my favorite things about this one is the cover, which is made from a vintage pillowcase. Cute, right?

Ayumi's tutorials are very clear and easy to understand with lots of pictures to help you along. Her attention to detail in the construction and finishing of this bag are particularly nice.

I'll probably need to make another one. And then maybe another one.

Introducing...

...the newest members of our family:

Lord help me, we've added not one but TWO kittens that are just 1-2 months old. I guess managing two children under five, starting potty-training with my daughter and trying to keep up with things like laundry and grocery shopping (not to mention sewing and crafting!) just wasn't quite enough.

This is Girl Kitty, proudly named by my two year old. She's feisty and has tons o' spunk. But she's also battling a pretty intense upper respiratory infection (kitty cat cold), so please think happy thoughts for her.

This is Little John, named by my four year old. He is a total cuddlebug and the sweetest little fella. I love the tufts of hair coming out of his ears. He looks like a feline elf.

They're both still getting used to their new digs and have discovered that the wine rack is a pretty cool hideout.

Oh, and by some MIRACLE, they both already know how to use a litter box. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Both kitties were adopted from the Oregon Humane Society. If you get the chance to invite a pet into your life, please check out all the wonderful animals available in this and other shelters.

Hexagon Needle Book ~ Tutorial

After looking all over for a cute hexagon shaped needle case tutorial, I kept coming up empty. I started by making this one, which was inspired by one I saw in a magazine but it was really fussy and I didn’t like all the thread globs from starting and stopping the stitching. I was looking for a clean simple design – just like the hexagons I’ve been piecing! So after a few more attempts, I came up with this. It’s not too fiddly, is quick to come together and you’ll have a cute needle case when you’re all done!

Bear with me – this is my very first tutorial.

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

Outer fabric: two 4.5” squares

Inner fabric: two 4.5” squares, one 1.5”x 5” piece (for “hinge” piece, not pictured)

Fusible interfacing: two 2” hexagons

Felt: one piece approx. 7" x 3.5"

Four 2 inch and two 1.75 inch hexagon templates (you can print these up here)

Sewing machine and thread

DIRECTIONS:

First, let’s make the hexagons. We need to make four hexagons: two with the outer fabric and two with the inner fabric. You can baste the hexagons using the 2 inch templates as a stabilizer (just like regular paper pieced hexagons) or you can join the Lazy Crafter’s Club and just press them around the template, which is what I do.

Once you have your four hexagons be sure to press them well so that they will hold their shape and have nice crisp edges. Remove paper templates, if using.

Gently open up the outer fabric hexagons and place one of your fusible interfacing hexies inside, fusible side down. I actually cut mine down to be a little smaller than 2 inch hexies so it's easier to fit them nicely inside there.

Carefully fold back the edges so that you have a nice tidy hexagon again. Press well. Repeat for the other outer hexagon.

Your hexagons are done!

Next, take your 1.5” x 5” piece of inner fabric (or whatever you’re using for your hinge piece (mine is a scrap of brown linen/cotton) and press ends under (1/2 inch) and then press in half so that you have a piece that measures 1.5” x 2”.

Now let’s tackle the felt! I like the pages of my needle book to be slightly smaller than the cover so I use the 1.75 inch hexagon template. I make a larger template by placing the two hex templates side by side, with a half inch space between them. This extra space is to make room for the hinge part at the fold of the needle book. It should look like this:

Use this template to cut out your felt.

Yay! You now have all the pieces needed for your needle book. Let’s assemble!

Take one outer hexie and one inner hexie and sandwich them wrong sides together. I put one pin in each side to hold everything so things don’t get shifty. On the side where your needle book will fold, tuck your hinge piece in about 1/2 inch.

Sew along the edge all around the hexagon sandwich. Keep your stitching very close to the edge.

Repeat for the other hexagon, tucking in the hinge piece again so that there’s about 1/8 inch between the two hexies for the fold. Like this:

Almost done! Take your felt and center it inside your needle book.

Stitch along the center attaching the felt to the hinge.

That's it. You did it! Admire your fabulous new needle case!

If you make one, I'd love to know!