~nINjaGo bAG~

Number four boy is getting ready to turn six this weekend and so he was tasked to make his "birthday list". With his older brother transcribing his wants, it came out like this:

my b-day list

mandalorion battle pack
pharoh's qest flamer runner
scooter ("good" says sam)
spider-man pajamas
Spider-man fuit snack
nerf knife
grow-fish
Star wars figure (anakin and JJ)
ninjago carring bag
star-wars sticker book

breakfast
pancakes
nutella
powderd sugar
white milk
cinomin toast

lunch
the whistle stop

dinner
rice and chicken (SOY Sause)
refried beans
boston butt

dessert
pie
ice cream
brownies
cake

Really?! I picked from the "options" and augmented the "suggestions" and came up with this...

Mama's B-Day List for Sam

Ninjago Bag
Ninjago Sticker Book
Spiderman Pajamas - tell Grandma Settles
Ninjago Figures - Grandma Collins

Breakfast
Pancakes (Nutella or powdered sugar toppings)
Bacon (believe it or not this is a HUGE treat around here...)
Blueberries

Lunch
Here, I'm drawing a blank...

Dinner
Boston Butt - because it on the eMeals menu (SCORE!)

Dessert
Ice Cream Cone Cup Cakes (with Spiderman Flags)

I have never heard him mention a "Ninjago Bag" before but I was kinda excited because I had been thinking of making the boys some shirts with their favorite ninja and figured I could probably do something similar with a bag. And I bought a drop cloth that I made my table runner out of (started out considering making window treatments but caved and just bought some). I had leftover (a lot) and figured I could whip up something pretty basic. And it really didn't take that long! After all the bags and purses that I made this came together pretty quick and easy

Drop Cloth Material:
4.5" x 27.5" for the bag
27.5x3" for the strap

Blue Cotton Fabric:
12.5" x 14.5"

Yellow Cotton Fabric
Black Felt
White Felt

Hem the short side of the big DC material by folding over half and inch and then another one inch and iron. Give it a stitch on the ol' sewing machine. Repeat on the other short side.

Take the blue fabric and iron a 1/4" hem around all four sides.

I went to the Google site for images and typed in in Ninjago Jay and found this image, printed it off and cut it out for a pattern.

I used Wonder Under for the yellow fabric and black felt to make it more stable/durable for each piece (they are small and squirrelly to work with otherwise), ironed them in place and stitched around the edges.

Fold the bag in half to determine where to place the "face" in the middle. Pin and sew a single stitch close to the edge

I considered just leaving it at that but the little white reflections in the eyes really made it seem "finished" so I found this decorative stitch on my machine that did a great job. The other reason was that the blue fabric had a lot of space in the middle that wasn't attached to the bag and I thought it needed to be tacked down somehow (maybe should have used the Wonder Under for this too?) and since the eye reflections were close to the middle it would serve a legitimate purpose as well. Anal? Let's move on...

Now with right sides together match up the hemmed top pin and sew up sides.

When I made this purse I was so jazzed to learn how to make a gusset so I thought it would be fun to do it again for this project. Super easy and looks so "tailored"!

Take the bottom corners and create a triangle by having the seam go down the middle of the triangle from the top apex. Mark two inches down each side, connect the dots and sew along that line. Then trim to about 1/4" - DONE! Cool, huh?

Now iron that seam flat to prepare for the strap.

I folded the strap fabric in half and made a tube by sewing along the long sides and turned it right side out. Put the seam on the edge and iron. I sewed a straight stitch down each side close to the edges along the long sides and ends (closing the tube).

Now, I centered the end of the strap with the seam and sewed a square with an "x" in the center. At this point in the project my attention was waning and I was willing to put up with several "oh, well" mutterings. Yeah, that's why my projects are small... instant gratification is a major character flaw of mine.

To keep his now loot safer I added some velcro to the top. If I would have planned for this project I thought it would be cool to made the blue face a flap to make it a cool, trendy messenger bag... maybe next time. 

I was marveling over the fact that I had all the supplies to do this - not one time did I have to jet off to the store to get that elusive "one thing". Just goes to show that I have *a lot* of stuff in my cra(p)ft closet. I'm thinking it would be cool to get a blue shirt and put the same "face" on it as well as a pillow case? Overkill? Yeah. 

~~a "tOiLE" oRDer~~

Remember this post just a little while ago? Well, again, I was going through my blogs and discovered another "gotta try" project and I used the same pretty toile as the cover up for this one...

The blog post was from Annie Get Your Glue Gun and she posted the links to this FREE (yes, F-R-E-E) pattern with instructions. Once I printed the pattern I had to figure out how the pattern-puzzle-pages (say that several times fast...) went together, taped them together, cut them out and then I was off and running.

Last night I got all my fabric out that I needed - my toile and fleece (this is the first time I've sewn with fleece). It feels so soft and snuggly... surely this will be inviting to my new babe in August!! And so this morning I put it together.

I poured over the instructions before I really began and everything seemed pretty straight forward. The only suggestion I would make would be to *not* draw all the locations of the hook and loop pieces but to wait until the snuggler is completed and then line up the pattern (using the finished edge for alignment) and tweak it accordingly. Not a big deal, really. I was fretting over drawing all the lines on the fabrics and it just wound up to make more sense to me this way.

There was only one small spot to slip stitch. I'm not a huge fan of the hand work stuff - I just wanna let the machine do all the work!! So this was not bad at all!

And as I was going to my desk to post this... I couldn't help but snap this comical grin as she ate her chicken and rice soup...

That's gotta make you giggle... a little??

~~cOVeR 'eM up!!~~

As I was pursuing my plethora of blogs that I follow (there were 500+ posts to review... nope... I didn't make it through all of them... so, I moved on...) I spotted this particular post at Craftaholics Anonymous for a really cute nursing cover.

I went to her Etsy shop, Ruffled Begonia, and purchased the Summer Love Ruffle Nursing Cover PDF.  The instructions were to the point and simple. The owner of the shop, Linda, even offers to be available via email if any questions or confusion crops up... although I didn't have ANY problem.  I was able to complete it in a day with my sweet five "distractions", pesky pooch, and severe weather warnings... not bad, eh??

I used a poly blend for the ruffle and neck strap but a medium weight cotton toile for the apron part.

This one is for one of my gal-pals who had a new baby girl recently. Now I need to get on with another one for me!! Do you think an additional ruffle at the bottom of the apron would be too much?

~~cBs is GeTTing mOrE fasHIoN~~

The latest five book covers.

If you'd like to make your own just go here and if you'd like to see some other ones that I made just check it out here.

~yUP, wE're sTYlin' aGAiN!~

Remember this post? I made a few more variations.

~sTyLIn' at CbS~

Community Bible Study has been a wonderful blessing to me from the start. Being in a new area and my home church being very small with limited meeting times, this source of study and companionship has fed my spirit immensely. I participated as a student for two years and my four boys were in the children's ministry as well. But this year the Lord has called me to be a "Core Leader" to facilitate a class. A huge endeavor and one that I am looking forward to. 

Our studies include a spiral bound workbook that we use for the year and since it's not decked out in the colors that I prefer... I decided to use some fabulous fabric that I got for a deal some time ago and create a fabulous fabric book cover that I can reuse each year. Not only that, but I even went a little insane and personalized it with the names of the books that I've studied with CBS as part of the creation... just wait 'til you see!!!

TA DA!!!!

It not only holds my book but I included pockets for a pen and highlighter, the memory verse cards that are included in our books to cut out and use for reference, a page marker, and a closure to keep it neat and tidy to and from class! Whew! And it was all simple  cuts and straight stitches. Really!!

So, are you interested in a tute?

Supplies:
main fabric
coordinating fabric
flannel
craft weight fusible interfacing
button
hair band
piece of ribbon
matching thread
sewing machine
needle for hand sewing
split ring

Here's the cut list:
cover ~ 13" x 27" (cover)
interior ~ 13"x 27" (I used muslin)
fusible interfacing ~ 12" x 26"
flannel interlining ~ 11" x 25"
pen holder ~ 3" x 5 1/4" - cut 2; one of main fabric, one of coordinating fabric
memory card pocket ~ 3" x 4 3/4" - cut 2; one of main fabric, one of coordinating fabric
ribbon ~ 17" (or so)

Put the two pen holder fabric pieces right sides together and sew with a 1/4" leaving an opening to turn right side out - if you make sure that the opening is on the bottom of the pockets you won't have to do any extra hand sewing. After sewing and turning right side out, fold the opening raw edges inward and press to create a tidy rectangle. Do the same with the card pocket. Set those aside for now.

Take the front cover (main) fabric and put the flannel in the middle then lay the interfacing on top with the fusible side down and iron following the fusible interfacing directions.

Fold the ends in 4 1/4 inches - these will eventually become the pockets that your book cover will slip into. So, when you fold it in half now it will begin to look like your cover. This is how I determined where I wanted the button closure and the pen and note card pockets. You'll want to unfold those flaps as you attach the button and pockets - it's not time to make those flaps yet.

Sew on the button first and then pin the pockets in place. Sew the card pocket close to the edge on the left, bottom and right edges. It's good to give a back stitch at the top corners to ensure a little extra durability. frequently for studying - right??> You'll repeat this same process with the pen pocket ~BUT~ you will sew an extra seam down the middle to create two narrow pockets. Pretty cool, huh?

Now let's start putting this thing together...

Place the cover right side up and take your ribbon for the page marker and place it a little left of center at the top. Carefully place the interior fabric wrong side up on top on the cover - so now the right sides are together, right? Pin at the ribbon and corners to match edges and then the rest.

Sew along all edges with 1/4 inch seam leaving a three inch opening on the bottom for turning. Clip the corners and then turn right side out. Fold those raw edges of the opening neatly inside and press. Now fold those ends in FOUR inches and pin. Set your book into the pinned cover to see if there needs to be any adjustments and to determine what size seam to use. It should be about a 1/4". After you've fine tuned your cover sew your last two seams on the top and bottom.

I used a hair band for the closure and there is probably a better solution to this particular detail of this cover but this is what I did. Nothing fancy, just sewed the band to the back of the cover - I might consider a different approach next time but this seems to work for now.

 

Next I sewed that split ring to the bottom of the page marker ribbon. Now you can add all sorts of goodies to the ribbon. I took my metal stamps and stamped the books of the Bible on washers that I have studied so far with CBS and attached them. As a special reminder I added a little rhinestone to the "Acts" washer to represent my Core Leader involvement.

I think I will make some extra ones for later. And try some alternate decorated covers. Maybe a rag cover like my purses? Ooh, ooh. That sounds fun. And how about some Anthropolgie inspired covers with those cool lookin' ruffles? Yeah - I'm seeing endless possibilities here...

~~sO maNy PurSeS... So liTtLe tIMe~~

I think it was in 1988 or 89 that I bought my machine at the Clark County Fair (Washington), of all places. Talk about an impulse buy... Anyway, I made a jumper right off the bat (the body length was too short and was a teensy bit uncomfortable to wear) and made some stuffed rabbits. Then it was put away until a wonderfully talented quilter came into my life and offered to tutor some of us young (at the time) girls at church. So, after that venture it was put into retirement again... while the last four of my five children were added to our quiver. {makes ya tired just reading it, huh?} Until three weeks ago my machine has sat in the garage neglected and nearly forgotten until I came across these on a blog and just couldn't resist!

It's called the Margaret purse and I found the pattern and instructions here.

That went so well and I found an even *easier* pattern and went for it again, and would ya know it, but I like this one a little better. I need to make some minor personalization to it; interior organizing doo-hickies like pockets and cell phone spot.

This is a rag purse and I loosely used the pattern from here. I made some minor changes to the bag to accommodate what I had on hand and made a little more substantial reinforcements to the handles.

I think my next rag purse will be a little smaller. Instead of a nine patch face, I think I'll do the six patch. I already bought some cute fabric at Hobby Lobby yesterday and I have since purchased the Big Shot to do my cutting from me! I do know of two people who are going to provide homes for them, but I think I will do a Crazy Blessing and surprise someone too.