A little time out from thinking about the holidays to put together a gift for the boy.

It was a fun, one hour project. Which is something I have needed after a long quilt project. Small projects feel so satisfying. I used a little thrifted corduroy in this lovely mustard color. I also found two HUGE spools of bias binding today at the thrift store for 50 cents each. I love bias binding… so useful! Thrifted buttons, garage sale blue fabric, and factory scrap vintage style print. Wow, I am feeling particularly resourceful today!

What you can’t see is that this bag is actually 3 1/2 feet long. And we filled it with PVC pipe to engage some of that boys abundant creativity. Here is dad trying it out, before it gets stuffed into the bag for tomorrow’s big day.

I must mention that this isn’t an original idea. My husband got a duffle bag full of PVC pipe and connectors when he was a kid from his creative parents. Since it was such a hit, we couldn’t let our son grow up without the experience. Considering how much time he spends trying to turn everything into a tent, I am sure he will enjoy it also. Any bets on how long it takes him to come up with the idea to make a light saber?

I did take a few close ups of the quilt. The color isn’t quite right. The binding is a little more navy blue than it looks in the pictures.

I like to hand stitch the binding. I just don’t feel like I have enough control with the sewing machine. Heather’s seamless binding tutorial is great, but since I used 4 packages of binding for this quilt, it makes more sense for me to use mitered corners. I actually do this by hand… the control thing again! It is the same reason I can’t get into computer graphics. I just can’t supress that urge to grab a pencil.

Here is this weeks WIP (”Work In Progress” for my friends out there not familiar with the crafty blog lingo.) I am attempting the freezer paper stencil project. This afternoon, I had only succeeded in giving myself reason to use two green band-aids! My son was pretty impressed by the war wounds.

Tonight, I have gotten a little farther. Cute snail, great tips from Beki, and a browse around the Boden website have me feeling like success is just around the corner. My bandaged fingers are crossed!

I found this bag at the Goodwill. I immediately picked it up, because I loved it, but it was funny because I couldn’t figure out why I thought it was so great. I have no other explanation for why I like this bag, except that it makes my heart happy and it makes me smile. I love it!

Here is a close up of that wonderful texture and patterned fabric. It was in absolutely pristine condition until my son insisted on carrying it to the car for me on the wet and soggy day that we happened to be out. I am not sure how many cars he rubbed the dirt off of with it, but it still looks good. I plan to use it and get it dirty anyway!

I got it home and explained to the man that I wasn’t exactly sure why I liked it so much. He took one look at it and said, “Because it’s funky!” Oh, yeah. Man what would I do without him to explain myself to me!

We have needed a new toiletries bag for a while now. I keep using a giant ziploc bag since I had not gotten around to making one yet. But this bag inspired me and so I made this:

It was the first time I used iron on vinyl (which I lined the inside with)… I am not sure I even knew it existed until I found it on clearance for 70% off. But I think I will use some when I start making more lunch bags. I cut the applique out of another sweet corduroy fabric that I am dying to use for something. Oh, if I the world would just stop so I could tinker in the studio.

I also lined it with this calico that my mom passed on to me from my great aunt. She gave me a whole stack of solids (which is what is missing from my stash) and this print. It went perfectly with the thrifted orange velour and leftover binding that I used.

So, this toiletries bag will work for us, but it could use a little tweaking before I could make a pattern that would be useful to anyone else. The zipper is too small… that is what I get for using a thrifted zipper instead of choosing one that was appropriate for this project. I also ended up having to rip out a lot of seams, since I tried to put on the binding the easy way, and it didn’t work! So a lot of seam ripping and hand sewing later, I am all ready to go with no place to go, and truth be told no inclination to go anywhere at the moment anyway! So it will be here waiting until the time is right.

I was so glad to get this done last night so that the girl could take her new lunch bag to school today, too! I was amazed at how relaxing it was to just work without thinking, since I had already developed the pattern (in my head) for the first lunch bag.

I realized I don’t have as many colored buttons as I would like. Hmmm, must do something about that!

Ok, and my daughter paid me the ultimate compliment today when she said she wanted to be an “ARTIST” when she grew up…. just like me! Wow, me? an artist? I guess having started out my adult life as an art major has made me just jaded enough to feel like the title of “artist” is not one that a person can just claim. For some odd reason, I have this notion that it is a title that others have to choose to bestow upon an individual. I guess it comes from having encountered too many self proclaimed artists that make really crappy art. I am still not sure I would consider myself an artist, but it sure feels good that my daughter thinks of me in those terms! So here is her lunch bag! And if anyone in her class thinks it is weird, she can just say, “My mom made it. She is an ARTIST!!!” Nice!

In an effort to conserve resources by not using paper bags, and reduce my consumerism by not going out to buy something that I could make, I decided to make lunch bags for the kids to take to school. This one is for the boy. I even recycled an unused table runner for the main fabric. I was a little nervous about how he would respond. I love making stuff for the kids, but I want them to be as excited as I am and not dread the fact that they will be seen with all this handmade stuff. My concern probably comes from seeing childhood friends feel embarrassed because they felt that their handmade clothes might make people think they were poor. I hope that my kids grow up in an era where “handmade” is a good thing. So I was delighted when he responded with enthusiasm.

He had to open it up and was excited about how much lunch would fit in there!

He tried out the button closure and inspected all the buttons and the applique. Then he gave me the sweetest smile and a big “thank you, mom!” Wow, that sure makes it worth the effort!

As we were packing for our trip a few weeks ago, we were thinking about the fact that we would be “camping” for a few days in a newly purchased and still empty house. Not knowing what our accomodations would be like, we figured since we were indoors we could manage quite easily with a sleeping bag, a blanket, and a couple of small pillows. But I didn’t have another suitcase to fit that stuff into. I realized I could make a duffle bag quite easily. Having this trim on hand made it even more simple. I picked this up at the Goodwill and have no idea what it’s original purpose was. I know I can’t buy anything like this at my local fabric shop today!

So here is the finished duffle bag. Not too exciting, but it did the job. It held up just fine as checked baggage, and since it probably weighed less than 10 lbs. it was pretty easy to throw over a shoulder and be on our way.

I keep thinking of ways I could embellish it with pockets, etc. But since it will only ever hold the most basic of bedding materials, I’m not sure it is worth the effort. For now, I will just toss it up in the closet and I probably won’t see it again until our next camping adventure.

I may not have my sewing machine, but I couldn’t leave town without needle and thread. I picked up some fabric and I was in business. The man got this geeky bag when he registered for his conference last week.

By Friday, it looked like this!

It is always nice to have an extra bag handy when you are travelling! Sorry, I have been in Olympia, WA since Saturday with no internet access. But we have had so much fun exploring the city with my husband’s brother and sister-in-law and camping out in their new and empty house. Now, we are on our way home. I am posting from the airport. I will have to catch up on email when I get home. Thank you for all your congratulations on winning over at Whip Up! So exciting!

It seems to be color week in the crafty blogging world. I pondered what I had that was yellow for yesterday and couldn’t come up with anything until… I was shocked to check my email and realize that I sold my first handmade offering on Etsy. Since today’s color theme is blue/turquoise, here it is! With some yellow thrown in for yesterday, which I missed. This tote bag has all of these colors!

So I spent the morning getting it ready to ship. It was very fun knowing it was going to someone who wanted it, and also a little sad to let one of my creations go. Silly, I know. So I know that I should really be cool and casual about the whole thing, but well I don’t think I care about being the snooty professional I would have aspired to be a few years ago. Right now, I am just tickled. Here it is all folded up with tags.

And I had fun making labels for the mailing envelope. Don’t they look cute.

I was a little sad when the post office clerk put big swatches of clear tape over them. C’est la vie! I need to get some more stuff up in my shop. I have a few things just waiting to be finished and photographed. Anyone else feel this way about that first sale?