What-not bags

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

In my never-ending quest to reduce the ~~junk~~, I mean stuff in my house, I decided (at the last minute) to make 25-30 small bags to donate to my church for an upcoming fundraising tea and luncheon. These bags can be used for craft projects, cosmetics, pens, pencils, crayons, baby supplies, gift bags….

Box bags are too time-consuming so I’m sewing another bag similar to the ones shown at the bottom of this post.

Using some new as well as vintage fabrics from iPad aunt’s and my M-I-L’s fabric stash along with zippers from my stash, I hope to be finished with this project by the end of the week.

Cutting the outer fabric, lining fabric and fleece interfacing takes a lot longer than one might expect.

I also have the bags broken down by thread color so I can set up an assembly line and whip through them quicker.

So that’s what I’ve been doing lately. Any last-minute projects taking up your time?

Happy (belated) New Year

Posted on January 4, 2019 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

Did you do anything special to ring in the new year?

Mr. Aitch and I had a relaxing evening at home. We toasted in the new year then went to bed shortly after midnight. We are such party animals. NOT!

I did finally get a Holiday project finished right in time for the new year… 3-d Moravian stars.

I bought this kit that makes two 20-point stars several years ago and thought it would be a fun thing to do with the grands. And then decided I would make them myself.

Good thing, too as the limited instructions were very difficult for me to understand without going online for help.

But I soldiered on and finished both stars.

I hung them in the dormer windows in the two front bedrooms Monday evening.

We live on a hill and it’s hard to get a picture of our house from the street but here is a shot of the front. You might be able to make out the stars in the half-round windows.

I just might leave them there all year.

Christmas Wishes 2018

Posted on November 16, 2018 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

It’s that time again for the box of Christmas Wishes! I had to get these ready now so the recipients can take them home at Thanksgiving (and save me from mailing them later).

I downloaded these tree box templates from PaperBuiltShop. They are so cute and can hold larger items. The three tree boxes contain Christmas tree-shaped candy canes similar to these.

Instead of buying paper for the packets, I used some old music paper which I ran through the printer to add some holiday graphics.

The packets contain a small ornament to hang on a small 2-foot tree. One ornament per child each day beginning December 1st so by Christmas Eve the tree will be decorated. This year it’s 69 ornaments as the candy cane tree won’t hang on the tree. (BTW, my daughter saves most of the ornaments each year and gives them back to me every other year so I don’t have to buy all new ones each year. And the grandchildren haven’t complained yet!)

Ready to go.

Do you have an Advent tradition?

New bag

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

My fellow blogger, Salpal1, made some curtains and I commented on the travel theme. Mr. Aitch and I just got a new GPS and I thought a travel-themed fabric would be great to sew up a case for it. So Salpal sent me some of her leftover fabric.

I loved the names of the states but wait…

…no West Virginia!

That just can’t be.

So using fabric markers and some rubber stamps, I altered the one side (sorry Oklahoma) to get at least one West (by God) Virginia on the cover.

I measured the size of the GPS and added an inch to each side so it would be easier to get in and out, added a zipper, lining, doubled the fusible batting for protection and called it done.The back…

The inside…Then I decided to make another cover/case for the window attachment and cord and have it large enough so everything would fit inside for when we want to remove it all from the car and keep everything all together. I adapted the size of this pattern and made it a bit smaller. I didn’t have enough of the Route 66 Fabric so I pieced together some complementary fabric to make it large enough.