Red denim bag

Here's the red bag that made everything else wait. it had to be done.

Red denim. I was so excited when I saw it. Bought some, threw it in the basement for future washing, then forgot about it.

Rediscovered it, washed it and made this darlin'. The inside birdie fabric also had to come home with me when I saw it, even though i didn't know what life it would take.

Yep, the bag was born. My 2nd attempt at this pattern. (the 1st is the green one a few posts below) and I have to say that it is that much better. Now I only have to figure out a more polished way to trim the inside of the hole of the handle. Not so sure about the binding thing.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a Friday Finds post. On Saturday of course.

cheers,
Amanda

A new bag

A friend of mine came to me with some beautiful fabric, pins, thread, snaps and an old well loved purse that she wanted made.
I accepted the challenge and sewed up this baby

Love the fabric she chose for the lining. Peek a boo.

Here it is in close range. adorable.
And the inside has a zippered pocket and a few pockets on the other side. One with a pleat.

What was that inside? A little zippy wallet. (pattern./tutorial on Noodlehead.

And here is the whole ensemble with a key thing.

And while I'm wearing my thrifted, happy, wool sweater, here's what one of the monkey heads made it into.


Off to make some more tea pot cozies.

l8r,
Amanda

more cell cozies

In the bags of sweater scraps origins here were a lot of sleeves and turtle necks.
I couldn't help but make more cell phone cozies.

It was fun to choose colours of wool blend felt for the diamonds.

And the hearts were bought from Deserres.

My first batch of cozies can be seen here

Dryer balls will come tomorrow. I just felt like having a bit of colour for today. We got dumped with between 5 and 10 cm of snow yesterday. Blizzard, can't see the end of the street kind of snow. Today is very bright and the sound of trickling, melting waters everywhere was encouraging.

Ciao,
Amanda

lunch bag? Wine bag?

Neve got a wonderful owl backpack for Christmas. So I felt she needed a wonderful lunch sack to go with it. As I was blurfing (blog surfing, it is a word isn't it?) i came across a lunch bag that had this same kind of closure on it.

So that's what I wanted to focus on. Unfortunately, I can't find the site anywhere. The person who made the bag from a pattern she found from someone else in oranges made it for her daughter and decided to keep it for herself. Anyone come across it in your travels? I want to give credit and have another look. Maybe order the pattern myself?

Because as you can see, I didn't quite make a good choice on the dimensions. lol

I was having fun making it, so I continued ahead anyway. Even serging the insides.


Yep, not sure what it's function will be. but it sure looks purdy!

thanks for looking,
Amanda

more creature purses

Howdy!
I've been busy in the sewing room, but just remakes of things you've seen already. Nothing new and exciting.
Here's another creature purse.. this time a car. beep beep


And a little hedgie! i love him.


On the 22-24, the Creative festival is happening here in TO. I'm so excited! I've arranged childcare for the whole day and don't have to get them till school is over at 3:30. Come to think of it, my uncle picks the kids up on Fridays and takes them to swimming after school WHOOT! I can stay out longer. Best go find my good walking shoes! I'll be sure to have a few good posts from that!

Have a good one,
Amanda

who wants to trade??

I feel like getting some hand made "ME" mail. Who wants to trade me something for these snack sacks?


Plus a much larger one for picking up a few fruits and veg on the way home...


A variety of sizes


You can tie this one on the top as a bag or tie it all the way down to keep the vittles snug and in the bag.


How purdy would this look at your picnic?


And here they are all, nice and folded.


What do you have to do to get it? Send me a photo of something that you made, that you think I would like. If I do, I'll trade. I will ship internationally if you will. If I get 2 takers, I'll make up another batch. I will post when it has been filled.

thanks, have a good one,
Amanda

Marble travel a la Serving Pink Lemonade

Loved this idea when I saw it on Serving Pink Lemonade
So many great ideas there.. go take a look..



Make sure you sew the lines big enough for a marble to go through. And make sure you don't sew the marble into a corner. Ask me how I know?!!
I came up with a few of my own runs for the marble. It's kind of addictive, thinking them up and sewing them up.


And some letters for the kids names. Can you imagine doing a whole pile of them in letters to spell the birthday kid's name?!! How much more personal can you get?


i crudely machine sewed the slit on the side. too lazy to hand sew.

Next round that I make, I will put the turning right side out slit where the ribbon is and attach and sew seam all together with the machine. Just makes a little more sense there.


I brought one next door to the neighbour's daughter with her initial. She wasn't home, but her mother couldn't stop playing with it and exclaimed how addictive it was.

Try it for yourself and have a good look at Serving Pink Lemonade

thanks for looking,
Amanda

ruffle clutch

Here's the clutch that's been in my head. I happy with it, I have many more ideas to alter it a little here and there. So more to come.


Easy to make. I've been losing my little cork clutch from Portugal far too many times. I figure, if I use this clutch with a place to hook on my keys, I'm sure to have it with me..... yes? no?

With a matching clip of course... to come.

Peek a boo zipper. Had fun letting the kids find the zipper.

And here is the back. I had planned to line the clutch with the skull fabric, but couldn't figure out how to do it at time of sewing. I also measured the back piece incorrectly, so I added a new strip with the contrasting fabric as if I had meant it to be that way. of course. As I always say, "There are no mistakes, just opportunities for embellishment."


I think this design is all my own. (as in, it popped in my head while I wasn't looking at other people's work) I'm sure there are similar ones to it. But this is a base for many variances. Think I'll go play with that now...
thanks for looking,
Amanda

more WIP and busted machine!!

It's been days since I've been on here! I've been working on several things, but nothing is getting completed. Mostly due to a tempermental machine. BITES!
So here is the 2nd edition of Works in Progress:
Princess and the Pea play set for my son's classmate. Her party is on Sunday and I need to find the book and finish it. It comes from the More Softies book.


Another Everywhere Tote from Weekend Sewing that was this close to being done, but I took the handles off, now the machine is busted and I wanted to give it to my friend for her bday tomorrow. NOT. Sorry girlfriend. it's on the way.


And I've been working on more crochet flower clips. Colourful for Spring!!


I actually played around this time. Did I come up with a new flower pattern? Or have you seen this one before?


Spring has come early this year. DH is already dreaming of his veggie garden and the kids were having fun looking for worms. Rafael is talking to nanny long distance on the phone, giving a play by play.

Here's a line from DH: " you reap what you sow, plant some vegetables" They taste much better, that's for sure.

Hopefully I'll be back soon,
thanks for looking,
Amanda

Zippy Winners!

Well, that was kind of anti-climatic. LOL I was excited about finding out where my readers were from, as I noticed there are some new ones, but ya didn't comment! did I scare ya away?
Anyho, My daughter picked out 2 names (proudly and wanted to pick more until she got her own). So the winners are:

Thanks to those who commented and thanks to all my readers. Without you, this would just be a big cyber memory book!

On with today's show....
Zippy Wallets from Anna at
Noodlehead She has an awesome tutorial. And I solved my mystery problem with the zippers on another of her tutorials. Now I feel confident with zippered pouches.


These are so addictive, you'll make more than one. Get your stash of zippers and snaps ready. I need more zippers already.

And a flash of the inside

Look at the size of them. too cute. Big enough for your gym card, a few coins and some keys. I cut and prepared little side tabs to put key rings on them for each one. But I forgot to sew it in, every. single. time! Neve already claimed the music one, so I'll have to replenish.


i took some pics of my other pom pom skirts, but am not overly happy with them. I'll try and take a few more. And I'm working on another project I hope to show you soon.

thanks for looking,
Amanda

wristlet- written word

I've made a few things I've made before in the last few days while I figured out what I really wanted to sew.
Here's a wristlet similar to here.Go ahead, click, it tells you where I got the idea from in the first place and the tutorial for it.


The fabric is from a t-shirt at Urban Planet. It was on the rack outside for 4 bucks! Couldn't pass it up. Bought extra large of course to get maximum fabric for the price. And here is what was across the back!!! Love the red swirl...

And a bit of oomph for the inside...


This one is marked for a relative in Portugal who is tres cool. Thought the script fabric would do the trick. Now to get it in the mail.....

Thanks for looking,
Amanda