I found the bag pattern!!!

[heatherlayne-n.livejournal.com]

Amazingly, after much Google-ing, I found it through typing in "squares, bag, press, fold, tutorial, newspaper" because the tut showed one of the sides as squares patchworked together, you press the seams, you cut on the fold, it's a tutorial, and you make the pattern on newspaper. Um, and it's a bag, obviously, though I never would've thought to search for "sack." *Whew!* I'm soooooooooo glad I found it because I love this bag a ridiculous amount.



The outside is navy corduroy. The inside is Wal-Mart polka-dot fabric on one half, and vintage cotton on the other. The pattern is FOUND HERE if anyone else feels the need to make one. I, personally, want about ten of them for myself! Sooooooo cute and easy to make.

I put a pocket inside and took a picture before the pieces were all sewn together to show off the awesome vintage fabric I got at a yard sale.



Someone had made this almost completely into a shirt, but there were no buttons or button holes, it was kind of sloppy, the collar got cut up a little, and there were a few holes. Oh well! I cut it all apart again and traced my pattern onto it! I've been hoarding this stuff for months looking for just the right project, and I think Noelle will appreciate it as much as it should be appreciated. And I have a little bit of it left for myself, too. ^.^ Hmm, what shall I do with it....?



There's the pocket inside. It's sort of hard to get to, since it's straight down from the strap, but I think it'd be a good place for money not to get lost, or for the cell phone to live rather than in all the other junk that accumulates in purses.



And this just shows the other fabric a little. Sorry for the crappy lighting in all of these. It's past midnight, but I just had to photograph this and put it up!



No, it's not an apron, it's a skirt. I got a remnant of blue linen/rayon from work (JoAnn) and decided to make a work skirt out of it. We can only wear black, navy, or khaki skirts or pants, and I'm soooooo sick of my black pants. And hey, ric-rack and pockets makes everything better! ^.^ Even if my work apron hides the skirt pocket, I still know it's there.



Some coasters, which were prizes for the Bingo game we played at the baby shower I helped throw Sunday afternoon. I got the "Mine" and "Yours" idea from Bend-The-Rules Sewing after I flipped through it in the bookstore the other day, though I embroidered the words instead of using fabric stamps and ink, which I don't have. (I'm really into embroidery lately.) More ric-rack! (I may have a minor obsession.) Muslin and more vintage cotton from the same yard sale on one side....



...and still more vintage cotton from that yard sale on the other! Pretty!



I like topstitching. I think it makes things look a bit more finished.

Lay a square of thin batting down first, then one side of the coaster with the right side up, and the other side of the coaster with the right side down. Sew nearly all the way around, turn, then stitch up the hole and topstitch around. Very easy.

Doo-doo-doo-dooooo! Another bonnet for me! :D


Outside


Inside

Though it's reversible, so it doesn't really matter. I'm quite pleased with how this turned out.

And now.... the baby quilt.



This was a gift for the mommy-to-be at the shower the other day. My first ever quilt. I just cut strips of flannel (so many cute prints!) and sewed them together, then used a mottled-looking flannel for the back. I didn't like how machine-quilting (just stitch-in-the-ditch) made the fabric pucker, so I hand-quilted (still in the ditch) with a simple running stitch using all six strands of pink embroidery floss. I quite like how it turned out.



And oh my goodness the binding. It went on fine on the front, but then I had to fold it over to the back and hand stitch it on alllllllll the way around. On my day off work, I just sat and watched movies almost all day and just did binding, binding, binding. I'm going to get carpal tunnel one of these days.



The baby's name will be Brielle, so I monogrammed one corner. ;)

Whew! It seems like I store up all the crafty pictures for huge posts like this one. Thanks for looking!