Hooked on Bags- February's Monthly Minis

 I have to admit that this

monthly mini took on a slightly different shape

and direction than previous months.

I've been hooked on making

vinyl project bags.

Since I shared my newest obsession 

in an earlier post  (Here, Bag It)

I have been making a few (lots) more.

I am not the originator of the pattern. 

I followed Jen's YouTube video, 

Jenn Craft Idea, Flosstube #23.5

but altered the size to make it just a little bigger.

My friend, Liz, gifted me a few more

vintage towels and I have definelty 

been having fun.

I have been trying to use fabric

from my stash, 

the green is an older Mary Englebreit 

print but worked perfectly with

the colors of the mint plant.

 A trip to the LQS helped

to find just the right fabrics to accent

some of the other embroideries.

I love the little chicks.  

The embroidery is crayon tinted and 

the piece was originally the front of a child size

apron that had been well loved.

Now I want to keep my eyes

open for some more cute vintage embroidered towels

looking for an new job.

But it can also fun to use other

cute fabrics.

Why not use some of my favorite

Dutch fabrics, bright colors,

and big prints.

The possibilities are endless.

I counted and I have 10 more

16" zippers left.

I see more bags in my future.

I'm linking with Wendy and the 

other mini makers .

Take a look at what wonderful minis these

fabulous quilters have been 

creating.  I hope I haven't stretch

the definition of mini too much

for February!

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Embroidered Hearts

It was time to gaze into my crystal ball

to see if I was ever going to finish my

Sue Spargo Embroidered Heart to Heart bag.

The crystal ball revealed that

the embroidery had been done for awhile.

The individual wool hearts

were complicated and a delight to work on.

Lots of time, 

a wide variety of thread sizes and colors

and lots of different stitches.

What small woolly wonders.

But that was all in the past.

So what did the future show.

It showed the part 

that always seems to trip me up,

making it into a bag with a zipper.

I needed to adapt the pattern 

because the wool I used for the bag

was a bit heavy.

It would be too thick to stitch

the zipper the traditional way.

Because the wool felted so nicely,

I stitched the raw edge right up next to the zip.

Adapted the lining too and 

Wow!  The future was actually looking good.

The bag was finished.

It stitched up fairly easily.
It stitched almost perfectly.

Could my future hold more bags?
Not anytime too soon.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

I Got Them Sewn Together.

Last time I posted,

 I shared

Running Man's 50 mile trail run.

I haven't been out running on a trail,

but it has felt like I was doing an ultra ultra

sewing challenge.

I had been working on two 

Sew Together Bags by Sew Demented.

These were very challenging.

I am a visual person and

the pattern has few pictures to help to

understand the construction.

Even with years of sewing

under my belt, 

I was left feeling a bit challenged.

But fortunately,

Heather and the Barn Chics did a 

Sew-a-Long for this bag just about

a year ago.

It was a fabulous resource.

I couldn't have put this bag together without 

their easy to follow steps by step construction.

I wanted each bag to be super scrappy.

That meant it required 11 different fabrics,

a different one for each of the different sections.

It also meant finding

4 zips per bag, in the right sizes to 

coordinate perfectly.

I found those at

Jeni at Zipits on Etsy

Oh, it just makes you want to buy zippers.

She has a wonderful deal, especially for this bag.

4 zips for $2.30 with a fabulous assortment of colors.

Going to this site is wonderful if you're making

this bag or for something else that might require zippers.

 Okay,

it was a lot of work, but

I'm glad I finished my race too.

 Until Next Time-