Golf Bag

By special request, and using a design requested by the Golfer Himself, I made this custom drawstring bag with special golfing features. It was a Birthday Gift for my Dad, but I forgot to photograph it for this blog and he just kindly sent me this picture.

The bag is lined and padded, with a dividing panel inside to separate the inside of the bag into two sides, for two different types of golfing accessories (those pointly little ball rests that poke into the ground -- but don't poke out of the bag because of the lined and padded sides.) And there's an exterior pocket too to hold those little extras. I found a golf fabric and coordinated the black with that. My Dad seems to love it!

It is a great feeling to make something for a specific and useful purpose, and then see it used for that purpose. A success all around!

Sustainable Wrapping

I got busy today wrapping presents. That is, making drawstring bags that can be used over and over again at Christmas. I'm so pleased with how they turned out!

Handmade Holiday: Matching Aprons

These matching aprons came together in a snap. Cute cupcake fabric, eyelet edging, and a pink ribbon added up to lots of squeals and excitement from these cousins!

Handmade holiday

In our quest to make this holiday as homemade as possible, we decided to try making wrapping paper. White paint and a couple of snowflake stamps -- and fingers and hands -- were all we needed to adorn these paper grocery bags (cut open and flattened.) Wrapped around a gift with a red bow and I think we're onto something here! Plus it was a fun project for the first day of Holiday Break.

This little handmade heart ornament was quick and fun. I think a few more of these may need to be made and turned into some last minute gifts or gift toppers. They'd look great on the snowflake bag wrapping paper too!

Big Bear Quilt and Bag

I've been sewing again! Over the past few months I've been getting my sewing machine out and really making progress. It feels so good after a long absence. I've been working on a variety of little projects, some for Christmas. The in-laws left for a long vacation, so I gave them their gifts early. So, I can post pictures here even though Christmas hasn't arrived yet. I picked up some coordinating fabrics from the Big Bear fabric shop last year, and used it to make this lined bag, inside of which is the quilt. I'm pleased with how they both turned out!

You know you're a beginner when...

I decided to try to make a bookmark with some ribbon and scraps of fabric. Sounds incredibly simple, but I managed to produce something that can only be described as a great learning experience! My fabric was too thin, and the ribbon melted under the heat of the iron (see the hole in the yellow ribbon?). And my corners on the top weren't crisp.

Next time I will try denim, I think. I'll also put the ribbon closer to the top so that it peeks out of the top of the book without having to have more of the bookmark out of the book than in it. Stay tuned for my Try #2.

P.S. Ender's Game is a great book!

Feeling Crafty: Homemade Birthday Gift

I have been feeling crafty lately, and decided to try my hand at a simple drawstring bag. I made this with materials I had on hand as a birthday gift for a friend of my daughters. It took me about one hour start to finish.

The bag couldn't have been simpler. I cut out a long rectangle, and sewed a sleeve for the twine by folding the edges down twice and sewing across. Then I folded the fabric wrong sides together and sewed up the sides (taking care not to close up the drawstring channel). Turned it right side out, threaded the twine with a safety pin, and hand sewed on the name badge, which I made by tracing his name onto the white fabric with a pigment pen, then sewing on borders and folding the edges under. I slipped a little book inside, and voila! A mostly homemade birthday gift for a special little boy. I hope he saves the bag and uses it to store some boyish treasure.