I didn’t really mean to sew anything this morning.  Still, I ended up at the sewing machine and about 20 minutes later I had this nifty little fold over clutch.  I found the not-sequins fabric at Joann’s and fell in love, even though I have absolutely no occasions that require a shimmery purse.  You may see me carrying this to the gym.

My younger daughter started eighth grade today.  I tried to give her the best start to the day by waking her with our purring Kitten, made her pumpkin bread with Nutella for breakfast and gave her this little Dr. Who case to keep her iTouch and phone safe in her school bag.

If you’d like to make a little zipper pouch of your own, you can find the pattern by Anna at Noodlehead here.  (I still need to add a key ring to each pouch.)

I hope my Little One has a great first day of school — middle school has got to be better when you take the Doctor with you!

My little sister in law visited us and wanted to learn how to sew.  I was so excited to teach her, especially because my own daughters don’t have the slightest interest.  I let her pick what she wanted to make.  If you keep the design simple enough, even a beginner can make almost anything she wants.  Thankfully, she wanted to make pillows (super easy!) and a purse (slightly harder but still very doable).

We bought new pillow inserts that she can recover with new shams any time she likes.  I won’t give detailed instructions here because there are so many great pillow tutorials, but here’s a quick breakdown:

For the front of each pillow, we took the height and width of the insert and added an inch to each measurement.  To make the back, we cut two pieces the height of the pillow plus an inch, then divided the width in half and added four and a half inches to that number to give a little overlap.  (So for her 18″ square pillow insert, the front piece was 19″x19″ and the two back pieces were 19″x13.5″.)  For each back piece, press under one tall side about a quarter inch, then turn it under another half inch and press again.  Sew along this pressed edge to create the finished edges for the back opening of the pillow.  To finish, lay the front piece right side facing up and cover it with each of the two back pieces (facing down) with the cut edges lined up neatly and pinned in place.  Sew around the edges, clip the corner and turn it right side out.  Easy?

She wanted to get a little fancy with her last pillow.  Didn’t she do a great job?

It was her first time EVER sewing!  She was amazing.

For lesson two, she wanted to make a purse.

We used the slouch hobo purse pattern from Ali Foster on Etsy because it’s a simple, easy to follow pattern that gives you a classically shaped purse.  She enjoyed the instant gratification of the pillows but did a great job on her purse, too.

She was amazed that after spending $50 in a fabric store, she had three pillows, a purse AND left over fabric to make more things — not to mention that the pillows can be recovered again and again.  And everything is in colors and patterns that she adores, because she picked them all herself.

Isn’t sewing wonderful?  Hopefully this is only the start of a lifetime hobby!

or with a floral camera and a gray background

so now I have one for me, and one for a friend.  Indecision is a wonderful thing. :)

I used the free PDF template from Ashley at Lil Blue Boo to make the camera applique.  Isn’t it the cutest!?  Thank you, Ashley!  (I reduced mine to 75% to better fit the purse.)

Now I feel a need to go be a tourist!

My daughter graduates from high school in a few days, and I wanted to give a few of her closest friends a little gift to celebrate.  They’ve stood by her through everything, and as her Mom I really appreciate that.

Since they’re graduating and moving off in many different directions, I wanted to give them a gift that would remind them of their friends.  Each of them have a similar wristlet, but with fabrics chosen with each girls’ personality in mind.  The same, but different.

I was able to sneak in a giraffe print, a favorite of one of the girls.  It’s inside, like her own little secret.

I used a mashup of this wristlet by Ayumi of Pink Penguin and this clutch by Anna of Noodlehead, then threw on a monogram just because.

What girl doesn’t like a monogrammed purse?

While I was at it, I made extra monograms for their gift bags.

(The tissue paper is their school colors.)

It’s so hard to believe they’re all grown up!  I hope they’ll stay in touch with each other.  I hope they’ll make their dreams come true, even when they change their minds over and over about what those dreams might be.  I hope they’ll stay just as awesome as they are today.

Watch out world, here they come!

Oh, how I love these checkerboard tote bags!  I made two as gifts (you can see them here) and kept one for myself.  I just finished mine this morning and have to show it off!

It’s such a fun design, the way the squares make little patchwork frames for the appliqued circles.   And it’s a great way to use up all those tiny scraps of fabric I’ve been hoarding.  They remind me of the things I’ve made for people, so when I see this bag I think of the people.  Don’t the little circles all look so happy together, like a group of friends?

I was hoping to use this as a carry on bag for our upcoming New York City vacation, but thanks to several thousand dollars worth of unplanned expenses (eeeeek!) our trip is very much in jeopardy.  Sometimes everything just hits at once, doesn’t it?  … At least I HOPE that was everything!

So maybe I’ll just enjoy my new bag around the house.  I guess that works, too.

Anna at Noodle-head.com designs some SERIOUSLY cute purses!  Can you tell I love her 241 Tote?  I’ve made three of them!  This wristlet was made from her Gathered Clutch tutorial, I just added a little wrist strap.

I love the little divider and pockets, and it’s a good, roomy size for a wristlet.  This one was a gift for my Mother in law for Mother’s Day.

Did you happen to notice that one of the 241 Totes I made was from the same fabric?  That was a gift for my sister in law, my Mother in law’s daughter.  I hope knowing her new bag coordinates with her daughter’s will make it an even more special Mother’s Day gift.

Happy Mother’s Day, All!

Mom has always warned  me about the possible heartbreak involved in giving a homemade gift to someone who isn’t crafty.  After you spend hours and hours making something special just for that person, there’s the risk they’ll smile and say, “That’s pretty,” and simply not understand.  It’s not just the “thing” you gave them, you were thinking of your lucky recipient, planning something just for them and devoting a large chunk of precious  time to their gift.

I never quite understood until I made this bag.

A person who doesn’t make things might look at it and say, “That’s pretty.”  But a person who crafts or sews would look at it and, among other things, notice those 60 circles.  They’d know that meant I traced 60 circles on the back of some HeatBond, roughly cut out those sixty circles, then cut out 60 pieces of fabric, ironed those 60 pieces of HeatBond to those 60 pieces of fabric, neatly cut out those 60 traced circles on the back, ironed 60 circles onto the patchwork bag and then appliqued around them.  You got it, 60 times.

Not to mention the 70 squares.

So you see what I mean.

Thankfully, this purse is going to a lovely person with a high craftiness level.

She’ll completely understand.

If you want to make a checkerboard tote of your own, you’ll find the pattern in the Summer 2011 issue of Stitch magazine, designed by Ayumi Takahashi.

And: One for my Mom in pale linen and vintage sheets!

A phone pic of my own checkerboard tote bag in progress:

I love the little “windows” of fabric in the circles.  (You can see the finished bag here.)  I think I’d like to make an i-Spy baby quilt with this method.  I’ll be sharing it with you if I do!

I’m really bad about starting one project while right in the middle of another.  There is an upside though: having a pile of partially completed projects means that I have several things that much closer to being done.  Or at least that’s how I always choose to see it.

This tote bag design by Ayumi Takahashi can be found in the summer 2011 issue of Stitch magazine.  She used brown and cream linens for the circles, and it was lovely, but the Anna Maria Horner voiles I’ve been saving seemed like such a good fit.  As I was cutting out the voile circles last night I told my husband the fabrics were out of my league, just so amazing that if they were human, they wouldn’t be seen with me.  They are seriously soft, light and totally saturated in color.  I hope they’ll be kind to me as I try applique for the first time.

And here’s a phone pic of my other work in progress, a happy baby quilt for a friend who finds herself unexpectedly expecting.

Why yes, I do love squares.

So this is how I’ll be spending my weekend.  What are you working on?

The 241 Tote by Noodlehead is so much fun to make!  Her pattern comes in two different styles, one with outer side pockets and one with zippered pockets.  (That’s why she named it 241, it’s like “two patterns for one price.”)  I loved the look of the side pockets, but also wanted a zipper pocket to stash my keys and avoid digging for them at the bottom of my purse.  I ended up using both patterns together (two in one!) and it turned out just fine.  Those outer pockets let you use three different fabrics together, love it!

I liked the interior pocket so much that I’m using it as my blog header.  I also increased the length of the strap so I can wear it as a cross body purse.  That’s what’s so great about making your own purses, they fit exactly right and can have zippy key pockets anywhere you like!

Seriously, the side pockets — they just make the purse for me.  I think I might need one in blue, too.

I highly recommend you go visit Noodlehead and snag your own pattern.  Thank you, Anna!  I love it!

Update: And one that makes me think of spring!

In “Nature Walk” by Cloud 9, beautiful organic cottons: