Birthday Tote for Lacie

I made a tote bag for my sister for her birthday. I used the Pleated Tote pattern from Artsy Crafty Babe. I enlarged the pattern so it would be a nice big tote for her. And I put extra pockets for lots of storage. It was a lot of fun to make!

The finished tote. I love this fabric and was happy to make into a present for my sister!

Nice long handles. The bag turned out a bit large than I intended, but that's alright. But really, is a bag ever too big?...

This is the first time I've done this type of zipper. For my first try it came out alright.

I even put a little pocket inside the zipper pocket. :-) Have I mentioned I really like pockets?

3 pockets in one! I like pockets like this for storing keys, cell phone and such. The little things you want access to right away and don't want lost in the bottom of your bag.

The detail stitching I did along the top of the bag. This is one of my favorite stitches.

I'm super happy with how this turned out. And I'm happy it went to a good home! Now, I need to make a new bag for myself!

Commissioned Birthday Present

A couple weeks ago I was asked by a friend to make a makeup bag & brush roll set for a birthday present. It was fun to make the set and get paid for it! :-) Here are a few pics:

I love the fabric collection she picked out. Very cute! This is Sugar & Spice by The Quilted Fish. I was glad I had the red zippers, they were nice accents to the red flowers.

I put 2 pockets inside the makeup bag. I love pockets!

This pocket is divided up the middle. It's good for chap stick or hair clips.

I used iron on vinyl on the brush roll so it will stay nice and clean.

This is the first time I rounded the top flap. It rolls up much better this way. I also used a simple wavy top stitch to add a little bit of something interesting.

All rolled up with an elastic tie.

Small bag to keep little things from getting lost in the bigger bag. It ended up a bit smaller than I intended.

Everything fits nicely into the makeup bag.

The complete set ready to be delivered. :-)

Blanket for Baby Girl Heilman

The baby shower for baby girl Heilman was last weekend so now I can post pictures of the blanket I made for her! Carrie picked out the fabrics for the top and sent them to me. Then I sewed, sewed, sewed! The top is mostly flannel and one minky, the bottom is satin-ish (I am blanking on the real name of the fabric, but I think it's usually used for PJs) and the inside is a layer of rubber sheeting and batting. It is HEAVY! I pretty much had to force feed it through my machine when I was finishing it. While it's not perfect by any means, I think it is pretty good for my first blanket! I hope baby girl has lots of fun outside playing on it!

Me & Carrie with the blanket at the shower.

The finished top.

Close up of the cute birdies and striped block detail.

After putting the back on, before top stitching.

All done!

Close up of the top stitching. I wanted it to look like the leafy vines on the brown print.

The back matches the solid green on the front.

Close up of the bottom of the top stitching.

Folded up and ready to go!

I need to be better about taking pictures in natural light. But I tend to do most of my sewing at night so that isn't always feasible. Now I can't wait to see baby girl playing outside on it!

Upcoming, hopefully soon to be done, Projects

It's been a while since I last posted so I thought I'd do a little post about all my current projects. They are all surprises so I don't have pictures. But I did take a picture of some of the fabric that I'm using that I absolutely love!

So the list of projects:

Baby outdoors blanket
Surprise Baby gift
Birthday Present for Carrie
Birthday present for Lacie

Impressions by Ty Pennington in Chartreuse & Gray

I may or may not have gone a little overboard when I placed this order. But isn't it awesome?! There were 2 or 3 other prints that I wanted but were out of stock when I ordered... maybe that was a good thing. :-)