Emery's Baby Bag

I had a particularly happy phone call from a friend back in November. She and her family were moving to our town! Woohoo! 

She has a son about 9 months older than James and had a little girl in August. I usually give myself 6 months to a year to finish these special baby gifts, but since she was moving to town, I wanted to hurry and finish it for when she first visited our house - so, a baby bag finished by the time little Emery was 4 months old! (Gotta love a great reason to have a deadline!)

A big thanks to my Mom for sewing the name (as always), and for sharing her machine - hers sews through the thickness of the denim, corduroy and interfacing much better than mine. Most of the fabric came from fat quarters won from giveaways, but some of it was purchased. I loved using the more feminine decorated demin on the back which was a remnant from JoAnns, I believe. 

So, welcome back to SoDak friend!!! I'm so excited to see our kids become friends :) 

The Bags Keep Coming! {ALYOF}

This bag needed to get done before the first Thursday of the month... and I did it! The sweet little recipient and her mother traveled up for lunch. Two other friends joined us as well... just a little college teammate get-together :) Friends forever!!

Except for the side fabric, the rest of the cottons were all giveaways. Such a great way to use up those fat quarters when I don't have time (or the need) for any more quilts.

I had some trouble with my machine not liking the thickness of the straps, but we powered through. The Brother machine has served my mom and I well since I was in high school (my ten year reunion is next summer!), but it may be time to upgrade. Mom recently purchased a new Viking machine, which I am currently testing to see if I like... she is starting school soon, so she won't be needing it for a few weeks. I have plans of making another baby bag, quilting a lap quilt and working on a knit outfit on the Viking to make sure the machine works well for all of my sewing interests. Oh, and I also need to test the buttonholes! Good thing we are done with most of our summer traveling and that James is past his colic-y stage ;)

 Just a few shots of the back, straps and inside. Only one more of these bags to go (for my newest nephew)! Well, until this winter when another teammate is due with her second :) Babies, Babies, Babies!

ALYOF Info...
Goal Post Here
#29 in the Goal Linky Party

Burke's Bag Done {July Goal Complete}

I can't believe I finished this month's goal! It's been a busy month, so I barely finished this in time... but I knew I needed to finish this by Saturday. The recipient, who lives in the PNW, will be here and I wanted it done before she arrived (aka... I wanted to save on shipping cost, ha!).

Again, Mom did the name appliqué for me... she also provided the red corduroy for part of the lining - I already had the green on hand. 

The cotton fabrics all came from giveaways :) Actually, the novelty pieces came from the very first giveaway I ever won three years ago. I love being able to use up a few fat quarters on these bags!

I'm down to only needing to sew three more bags to make! Then, I can focus on a few more fun items... like clothes for E!!

Goal Post Here
#3 in the Goal Setting Linky Party

Seaside Beach Tote

Last time around, when Ev was just a little nugget, I made a bag out of stash fabric. At the time, we were packing up to move back to SD, so I just needed to get some sewing in to keep me sane. When I needed some sewing time a few weeks ago, I just had to look at my pile of "pulled fabric for specific projects" and start sewing. 

The two bags have two things in common: I didn't use a pattern and I didn't do everything technically correct (for example, for this bag, I didn't iron down the fusible fleece and I didn't always iron when I know I should have). Both bags served the purpose of giving me some creative time, free of obligations - obligations of being a mommy and a housewife and also obligations of always following the sewing rules. Ah, such sweet bliss :)

Anyways, to the specifics... Seaside fabric designed by October Afternoon for Riley Blake Fabrics. I had one charm pack and three fat quarters. For the handles, I used a fat quarter of yellow Mini Confetti Dots by Dear Stella from a bundle I won from QNM.

Quick, Simple and Fun.

All in all, it's just another bag to add to my growing stash of totes. 

You can never have too many handmade tote bags!

January Goal Finish - Two Monikered Bags {ALYOF}

I finished them! 

My January Goal was to finish these two baby bags. 

Goal Post

#29 in the ALYOF Goal Linky Party  

Lincoln and Chase now have personalized bags that they can eventually carry around with pride to the library or to church or just around the house. 

The main change from the usual bags was that I decided not to use any denim in the handles. It made it a lot easier on my machine! Each bag has one pocket on the back and one on the side... plus a corduroy one on the inside. 

The fabrics came from a variety of sources... most of them came from Instagram's #thegreatfabricdestash last winter. The striped red and green fabrics were winnings from Benartex giveaways, the other red, the blue and the bandana fabrics were from my stash.. and the green and the safari were from my mom's stash :)

~*~*~

You can see other Monikered Bags that I've sewn here and here...

January Goal Post {ALYOF}

It's another year for "A Lovely Year of Finishes!"

This is a wonderful way to set one goal at the beginning of the month and to stay motivated to finish it by the end of the month. I'm sure I won't be able to participate every month during 2015, but I may as well start and see how it goes as the year goes by :)

January goal: I have two "Monikered Baby Bags" to complete! 

While my mother makes these as baby gifts, the way things are going around here, I think I'll start calling them first-year-birthday bags :) A lot of moms have their preferred baby bags anyway. I use E's as her toddler bag as it's easy for her to add toys to before leaving and to dig for toys at our destination. My brother's sons use them as church activity bags. They are even wonderful for library bags! So, I'm OK with them getting finished long after baby is born... as long as they get done... preferably by the first birthday, ha! So.... let's get these two done before I really have to get busy on some more baby quilts :)

Quilted Beach Bag

I recently won a giveaway from Amy at Diary of a Quilter. The giveaway was a saturated rainbow fat quarter bundle sponsored from Canton Village Quilt Works (the giveaway post is here if you want more details about the fabric in the bundle). The colors are definitely not something I work with on a regular basis, but it was fun to get out of my comfort zone! 

A Big THANK YOU to Amy and Jackie from CV Quilt Works for the bundle!!

I decided that we needed a new lake bag to carry swimsuits and towels this summer! I used the tutorial found here and only changed the pattern a little - I decided not to gather the strip in the middle of the bag. Since I was using fat quarters, I would have had to connect a few strips in order to have it long enough the gather. I also had to improvise with where I put the batting and the interfacing based on what I had on hand.

I do love how it came out! Mom was pretty jealous when I showed her. I may have to make another one ;) I have plenty of charms to make it, but I may have to supplement from my stash in order to have bigger pieces for the lining, straps and accent fabrics on the bottom of the bag.

Oh, look, there's Farmer Dan feeding the fat cattle during my photo shoot :) 

It is nice to have sunlight still after I put Evelyn down for the night!

Cutting it Close {April Goals Reached}

I made it! I was getting nervous, but I finished them a the last moment :) 

My goal was to finish two of these "Monikered Baby Bags," but I actually finished three of them! 

No tutorial yet, but maybe once my list of need-to-sew quiets down, I'll take the time to take pictures along the way. Don't worry, I have plenty of friends having babies in the near future, so you know I'll have plenty of chances to finally write down the guidelines for this fun, personalized bag!

Linking up to ALYOF

April Goal Setting Post

(Link 4 in the goals linky party)

This bag actually isn't for a baby. The recipient was recently upgraded to big brother (his sister's bag is below), and I didn't make him a bag when he was born... it was time that he received one! It should be a great church activity bag for the almost-3-year-old. I hope he enjoys this bag that is all his own!

 Most of this fabric was from a Fabricworm giveaway win a few years ago (I can't remember the name, but I believe they recently reprinted it). I was happy to have a good use for it finally! The rest of the fat quarters have been finally cut up into charms. They have been great additions to my I-spy quilts :)

 

This little man was born earlier this year (remember his quilt that I made and blogged about here?). His mom was a teammate of mine in college, so I chose to use good ol' blue and yellow (go Jackrabbits!).

 

These fabrics were all from my mom's baby bag fabric stash. 

I'll finally get to meet the little fellow at the end of May, so I'll give this gift to him then.

 

 Here is the first girl's bag that I've made by myself and blogged about. The only change from a boy's bag is that the band around the name panel is a ruffle instead of just a simple fold. Some of this fabric is from an older Lizzy House fabric line. I chose brown accent fabrics from my stash that were probably from the JoAnn remnant bin :)

 I'll get hers and her brother's bags in the mail soon. 

She was born in March, so it's about time I get a gift to them!

 

In non-sewing news... the boys started planting! They were able to plant all last week, and they're almost done with corn. 

I'll be excited with the green plants start popping up. The brown fields just aren't very pretty ;)

ALYOF ~ April Goal

April Goal: Finish two Monikered Baby Bags

I've got these two bags started - Mom did the appliqué - and now, I just need to sew them all together.

Not a part of my goal, but I have a third bag that I have a few pieces cut out for that I would like to finish soon as well. A cousin just had a little girl! Babies are everywhere :)

Grady's One Year Bag

You had a glimpse in this post of one of my mom's common baby gifts... the Monikered Baby Bag. Evelyn attended her first birthday party of a friend last month, and I decided to make him a bag! His mother is expecting another little one this summer and I look forward to making that baby one as well!

These bags are perfect for carrying toys and books... they can even double as a diaper bag. Evelyn's cousins in California use them for church activity bags - each boy has his own bag, which makes for less fighting :) We use Evelyn's for her toy bag when we travel back and forth to the grandparents' house.

Mom used to make these in only one color of corduroy (I still have mine somewhere in my old bedroom). Now, the corduroy is only used as the lining, while we use interfaced cottons and old blue jeans on the outside. This was my first time making one myself (well, Mom helped with the letters and the denim pockets), and I have a few more in my to-sew pile. Maybe one of these days I'll write a "tutorial," although, these are very adaptable - they have to be with all the different lengths of names out there - so the tutorial would be more like guidelines than actual rules ;)


Linking up to Ellison Lane's Crafty Traveler Linky Party

Put a Ruffle On It! {Ruffles Blog Hop}

It's here! 

It's time for the Cha Cha Ruffle! 

Mdm Samm has done it again... this time it's the "Think Ruffles" Blog Hop with main cheerleader Amy from Sew Incredibly Crazy. Thank you to both of these amazing ladies for organizing such a fun hoppity-hop!

Anybody ready for some Cotton Eye Ruffles?

My first project is straight out of a country vision of sunshine and clotheslines! This clothespin bag is made out of some denim yardage (thrift store), an embroidered table runner (yard sale), and feedsack fabric (antique store). All items (including the buttons) were from my stash and I used this tutorial... if you decide to also make one, be sure to watch the video; the tutorial makes so much more sense after watching the video. I look forward to the warmer days ahead when I actually get to use my "Ruffly Pin Pouch!" Putting the laundry out on the line with this pouch by my side will sure make me sing the Party Ruffle Anthem :)

~*~*~*~*~

You didn't expect me to join a ruffles blog hop without making something for my little Evelyn, did you? :) This "Ruffled Halter" is made from a fat quarter bundle of Pam Kitty Picnic fabrics I won from the sweet Amy of nanaCompany a few months ago. The pattern is one of Oliver + S's free patterns I found on their website. The smallest size was 18 months (Evelyn won't be that old until October), but I haven't added the elastic to the back yet, so I can make it fit her when the time is right... I'm thinking it will be a nice top for 4th of July :) She'll just be livin' on a ruffle!

My favorite part of this sewing project is that the ruffles are cut on the bias, so you don't need to hem them traditionally. Just an easy topstitch along the edge is all you need - yay for less ironing!! Reading that part of the directions made me want to twist and ruffle right there beside my ironing board...

~*~*~*~*~

 

Last but not least, here is my "Tote of Ruffles!" I love using reusable grocery totes, even though I've gotten out of practice of remembering them since moving back to SD... I hope this ruffli-fied tote will get me back in the mood of remembering!

More stash busting... the same denim and purple feedsacks from the clothespin pouch, plus some added blue feedsack fabric, a doily and some white/purple striped fabric for the lining. I made this pattern up by myself. This doily lended itself well to being attached... I just zigzaged along the two concentric circles, which leaves a fun ruffly edging! Yup, I'll be that cool mom in the grocery store with this unique tote ;) maybe I'll just have to do the Cupid Ruffle while grocery shopping! Put I promise not to shout out "Who let the ruffles out?!" That is not what a cool mom would do, ha! (Maybe I should just be glad that I have several years before I have to worry about Evelyn thinking about having a cool mom...)

~*~*~*~*~

Thanks for stopping by! 

Now, take a sip of Ruffle Potion No. 9 and go enjoy the rest of these ruffling ladies! 

Sew Incredibly Crazy

Malini's quilts

Missouri Mel

Just Quilt It

In the Boon Docks

On the Banks of Frog Creek (You are ruffling along here!)

Sparrow In Flight

A Last Project from Montana

 This was the last thing I made before packing up my machine before we moved... the green was leftover from the Batik Blog Hop (it was the inside of the purse), and the lining was purchased during this antique store sale. I thought the colors complimented each other, plus I used red thread for even more contrast.

When I was first starting to make it, I just used the entire length of green fabric I had, but that was going to make it too tall for my liking. Therefore, I waited to attach the handles after I added the lining and folded it over. It made the handle attachment a little messier, but I like the look of the lining folded over. I think it turned out to be a successful experiment, don't you?

Dan was having fun taking pictures. I thought I'd humor him and put one more up here. Not my favorite... but it works :)

Linking up to a few more parties (check the sidebar for my favorites!).