A Sweet New Bag + That Awesome Blanket

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Last week I took a break from the stock-the-inventory-closet sewing and made myself this sweet new bag!





The pattern is from V and Co. and is super simple and fun to make.  There aren’t even pattern pieces – you just cut it all out with your rotary cutter and it sews up in no time!





This is a serious bag, not a dainty purse.  On Sunday it happily held my usual purse stuff, two kiddo jackets, an American Girl doll, a folder full of paper, my big camera, and a box of Rice Krispie treats (it was a party, what can I say?).  It’s that handy size for when your kids are too old to require a diaper bag but you still end up hauling around half your house.

You should also head on over to Vanessa’s blog – it’s full of fun sewing projects and loads of inspiration.  It’s definitely one of my faves.





I’m not the only one getting something new around here.  Remember the awesome chenille blanket I mentioned in last weekend’s Weekend Links?  I started one for the little guy!  Poor thing – being a second child to a busy mom means he hardly has any handmade stuff, so I’m excited to finish this up for him.





I’m following the tutorial from Aesthetic Nest that was linked to on Living With Punks.  So far it’s going surprisingly quickly given that I’m not a great quilter and it is A LOT of quilting.  You better believe I’ll be showing pictures of this one when it’s done.

What are you guys up to?  Any new fun projects?  Want to tempt me with another project for myself?

Two steps forward, two steps back

Tweet I am diligently keeping to my two-a-day production rule, despite a not-so-great Thursday.  Little Man is having some napping issues since we took his beloved pacifier away, so I got a VERY short 30 minutes of sewing time Thursday.  I did make a pencil case that looked a lot better in my mind than in practice - disappointment #1 for Thursday.  I had another art-related idea - a fabric portfolio-type-thing that holds colored pencils in one side and a sketchbook in the other, then closes up with a snap.  Here's what I ended up with.

Pretty cute, right?  Well, unfortunately all those little individual pockets for the pencils are just a hair too small, so the fabric gets all bunchy and a kid would tear it in no time flat.  Thursday disappointment #2.  Boo.  So technically I made two products, but two non-functioning products.  I can't be too disappointed because Wednesday was a success with these adorable fabric flags.  I was thinking they were called pennants, but it seems the correct term is bunting.  I'm going to see what's in my fabric stash and hopefully make a few in some more boyish colors.  They'd look adorable in a nursery.

Speaking of boys, there is a definite lack of boy-focused handmade stuff out there.  Hopefully as Little Man gets bigger he'll be a bigger inspiration so I can tap into that market.  Right now he just likes to push stereo buttons and try to eat his sister's snacks, neither of which translate into any sort of handmade product.

Today I'm going to have another go at that portfolio and hopefully find some hand stitching to do so I can watch So You Think You Can Dance.  Thank goodness for DVR - I don't know what I would do if I had to pick between SYTYCD and Project Runway!