To Market, To Market

I decided to try out another "bag"pattern I had bought. I was excited about my fabric choices and "almost" fabric choices. I was describing the tote project to my granddaughter and saw this look come over her face like she wanted to say, "Nana, Are you CRAZY??" (Well, YEAH at times! lol) I then said to her, "Oh, but I'm sure you wouldn't be caught dead with it." We laughed. Below is the yummy fabric I was excited about using, but found I was short the banana and "cutie" fabric.:-( so sad.... I just learned about those small tangerines being called cuties. Hummmm...... I guess they are cute.;-) LOL
I used the pattern Six Pack Tote by Susan Marsh. It is a reversible tote with 4 pockets. Below is what it looked like before I stuffed one bag into the other.

Below are the bags front and back. It takes 6 fat quarters. Finishes about 14" X 18" x 4" As always, it took me a while to comprehend the directions and make it, but that's just me. The pictures helped alot. I'm sure the next ones will go much faster. Don't you just love the fabrics I used? LOL

Glad I read the directions through before starting. Actually, I read them through a number of times. She stated the fat quarters HAD to be 18 X 21. Yes this is very important for the fabrics used for the pocket and handles because 2-6.5 plus 2- 2.5 pieces equal 18 inches. I guess if short some, you could make the handles narrower. The problem I came accross while picking the fabrics is that, I wash my fabrics first and they shrink making alot of them shorter than 18".

Lessons learned: Don't get too excited about fabric choices until you make sure you have enough of that fabric. lol

Pay more attention to the sewing process than to the TV. I had to do some "frogging" even when I had made a mental note, to self, to not forget to topstitch after appling fleece and before sewing the bottom and sides.... sigh....

Be thankful your daughter decided to bring pizza home for dinner so I didn't have to stop sewing to make dinner:-)

Thank you for stopping by. Have a Wonderful night and God Bless you....

Kathy

This one... that one... hummmm

I wanted to make a "grocery bag" for a friend at work. She admired the ones I made and used to bring my "stuff" to work. She also had given me some cotton yarn to get me started on making cotton wash cloths. I found some fabric I really liked and thought she would also.... that's a good start, right? I had bought a bolt of both fabrics, at a very good price, on an online store a few years back. I've used them for a quilt or two. I THOUGHT I would add some fusible fleece, that I had, to give it some body. I made it and said, "Naw" too much body. lol I'll keep it to use on trips. This is how it looks:

And then I made a bag like the ones I carry to work. It looks like this:

But..... I always wanted to take a plastic bag apart (make a pattern)and try to make one to resemble the bags we get at the grocery store, but never got around to it. but..... the other day, after I made the second bag, I read in an e-mail about this sight DIY BAG LOVER and guess what I found??? Yup, the grocery bag pattern I wanted to make myself. Yippee! It has directions to make a pocket to fold itself into when not in use and I did make it....(I took the picture with pocket showing) but I might just make the pocket for the sake of having a pocket. It is just too hard to fold the bag into the bag:-(. That's ok. I don't need to fold it up. I REALLY LOVE how it turned out and will make one for myself. This one will go to my friend.... I think. lol

After I took pictures of the first two bags, I put them on the bed. Austie, I believe, thought I put them there for him to "try"them out. I think he liked them because he slept on them all afternoon. Isn't he sweet? I just wanted to mention that I'm never sure how these pictures will show up on my blog because they seem to arrange themselves for some reason. lol I just can't seem to figure out how to make them STAY where I put them. lol

Have a Wonderful Day! More later.....

Kathy

Grocery Tote

Hello, hello!
I did finish the July BOM, but I won't post it until I have the June BOM done. Not bad, I'm just one block behind. I need to JUST DO IT! Maybe tomorrow. I just get a little side tracked....lol Talk about side track.....yesterday I was organizing some patterns and found a pattern that was on my "to do list" and decided to just do it.....I did. I found some cat fabric just sitting there....my granddaughter isn't a fabric cat lover any more, so I have lots of cat fabric. I picked out MY favorite one. Cute HUH? Well, there is one problem with it though........ I found out the hard way that you don't use directional fabric.....nope, nope, nope, unless you want to cut it differently and waste (not necessarily waste...goes in container for a scrap quilt;-)), I CUT THE MATERIAL.....looked at it....discovered the "opps" I thought about it for a while and said "What the heck?" Who will notice? hee hee. ( ME ) Notice the blue "mice" are directional too:-) The bag to the right is the "cat" bag I made for my granddaughter years ago. I love that pattern from Lazy Girl Designs. It has 6 outside pockets. Only problem is I keep forgetting what pocket I put what in....no biggie,. When in doubt, just check all six. lol

Opps, I got side tracked again;-) I'm sure that doesn't happen to anyone else...lol. I got the super easy Grocery tote at http://www.spoolsewing.com/blog/ click on the link on the left side. This is my kind of pattern. It has written instructions on the front and on the back PICTURES. I found myself flipping back and forth to put a visual with the words. Now I need to whip out a few more. Then I have to remember to bring them with me when I go shopping. That is the hard part.

Have a GREAT DAY and make yourself a few grocery totes........but don't forget to use them;-)

Kathy aka Kela