Crafting 101

Well, this is it. September has come and now it’s gone. I hope that you’ve enjoyed all the various patterns I’ve found for you to make, admire or add to your list to make one day. I know my list has grown!

So October is all about Christmas! My plan is to provide some ideas that can be used as Christmas gifts or they will be items you can make for your home at Christmas time or it’ll be patterns for things to make for gifts. I know you might think it’s too early to think Christmas, but let me tell you — it’s not!!! I always end up waiting until December and there’s never enough time to get things done.

So I hope that you will stick around and enjoy what I find for you out on the world wide web. November is going to be totally different as well as December so stick around! TTFN!

Well, here it is, almost the end of the month and I have found a great little bag that is perfect for teachers! It’s actually a reusable sandwich holder that can double as a placemat! That is super neat!

I found it at The Small Object’s blog and it’s called simply a Reusable Sandwich Wrap. This is great for anyone taking a sandwich to work and it’s great for the environment. In fact, I think I’ll have to make several of these for everyone to use - even the hubby! She used fabric on the outside and vinyl on the inside, she plans on making another one with fabric on the inside. She also mentioned that you can adjust the size so accomodate subs as well. I think that you could also think of somehow making something to hold chips or cookies, maybe use a little tougher fabric that holds it shape better so they don’t get crushed.

So on the topic of lunches, I found a very neat idea for a handmade lunch sack. Have old jeans? Here’s a place where you can use them! Over at FamilyFun.com, you can quickly make a personalized lunch sack to go with your brand new sandwich holder. The instructions seem quite simple, probably could make this in an hour or so. Plus, you can get creative! Who doesn’t like to be creative?

So let me know if you make any of these things. I plan on making some of these lunch bags. I think the kids would like them. Too bad I didn’t see it before school started! I could have saved some money!

I am a fan of sites where I can find more than one pattern for whatever it is I’m looking for. That’s what Better Homes and Gardens has done. I visited their website and found ten neat bag patterns to sew.

The picture on the left is called Lazy Days Tote. I think it looks cute! I desperately want to make something where i have to quilt it, any excuse to go and purchase all those neat quilting squares that I see in the craft stores. You can view the pattern here. I think the colors are pretty and it’s really not that hard to quilt. You are basically using small triangles to make larger squares. Not hard at all!

Now, this purse is one that I must make. When I lived in Germany, I had a black purse like this that I wore when we went on the train and went shopping and such. Not bulky at all, and you can keep it right there with you to get at it easily. You can get the pattern here. This should whip up rather quickly, I know that I could use this when I go out like we did to the zoo.

So has anyone made any of these projects? I’d love to showcase what you’ve done!  There’s only a couple of days left of September where we can discuss bags!

So today our family went to Washington D. C. with our two oldest daughter’s Girl Scout troop. We had a blast, but let me tell you, taking this trip showed all the different types of bags you will see. All the girls were told to bring a backpack to carry the goodies from the trip. Now you say backpack and everyone thinks something different. We brought backpacks, others brought bags and others brought oversized purses. In reality you needed a bag to tote on your back since we probably easily walked five to seven miles today; a bag to hold a water bottle since it was hot; a bag to hold a notebook, coloring and a snack; pockets I’m the bag for your train tickets and itinerary; and a bag to hold leftover lunches. In essence, a really heavy duty hikers type backpack.

I have a backpack that is also a diaper bag so it pretty much has all these features. My daughter carried a backpack from my college so it had all those features. I was just amazed at all the different types of bags I saw because since some weren’t exactly backpacks they had problems carrying things since they weren’t prepared.

I have no pattern for today, I’m actually writing this on the train back to Richmond. I just wanted to write something regarding bags for all my readers and to tell you that tomorrow and Monday I will have the final bag patterns of the month since October means Christmas! TTFN!

So I haven’t gotten to making my camera bag, today did not go well. Ended up having my battery go dead while out running errands and thank goodness there are some nice strangers out there that gave me a jump! So that made the day go longer than expected. But I did find a neat pattern for anyone who loves fish!

I found this bag here at Knitting in a Happy Camper. I thought it was so cool! Unfortunately there’s no pattern on the site, but she does mention where she got the idea from and what she did to change it up for her. I live people who are creative!

I love the colors that she used and there’s loads of more pictures on her website. My friend Kristy loves fish so she would so love this as a purse, I just know she would!

I’ll see you tomorrow where I’ll have another pattern for you. I can’t believe that the month is almost over! Almost time to start thinking Christmas! TTFN!

Back on to the subject of teachers, how about making a bag with their school logo on it? Every teacher loves school spirit, even the parents like this gift! The neat thing about this bag is the person showing the bag on their blog used old sweatshirts with the school logo on them. How’s that for having a great idea plus recycling at the same time? Makes me want to go get my old La Porte Marching Band sweatshirt that’s just hanging in my closet and make it into a bag!

So I found this pattern at Sew What? , a blog dedicated to making bags. Fits the theme rather nicely for this month!  You can see photos and read about it here. She doesn’t give a pattern, but shows you inside and out so if you’re getting good with these bags, you could probably whip this one up. Just remember: if you are using an old sweatshirt, just be careful, measure twice, cut once because you can’t get the shirt back. I think for me, I’d use something that isn’t too important just in case you mess up before getting your precious sweatshirts out to use.

This does get me to thinking. I have my old band sweatshirt, a couple of sweatshirts from our high school musicals and one from Project Graduation…hmm…instead of them wasting precious closet space, I can make them into a bag! My husband will love that! TTFN!

P.S. I didn’t get my camera bag made today, but I’m going to do it first thing in the morning. I really want to make it!

Today I have a new bag for you to make! This is something that I’m going to try and make tomorrow afternoon, we will be going to Washington D.C. over the weekend so I’d love to have something to hold my digital camera. I don’t have a huge one, just a simple point and shoot, but it has yet to have a case and it needs one. So here’s what I found!

This bag is made by http://www.evilmadscientist.com and you can view the pattern here.  It’s meant for a camera that comes with a strap, mine doesn’t so I have to figure out how to adapt it. Easy enough - I can make my own straps! I can do that, not a problem. I do like that it’s made out of recycled jeans which if you know anything about me, I love to recycle! I also love orange so I might have to use the same colors!

Tell me what you think, I’d love to see if anyone makes one of these. It seems simple enough and she gives great instructions. I still haven’t learned how to make buttonholes so I will probably use velcro for now or some sort of hook with a button. I will post a picture once I am done, I will be getting all my wonderful chores done today and tonight so that way I can sew tomorrow. I haven’t done it in a few weeks so I’m ready to sew some more!

I have been knitting constantly since Thursday evening, only stopping to eat, drink and go to the bathroom! Honestly, I have been going at it and here is about where I’m at as I write this post. I had to stop and let my hands have a break!

Jonathan is wearing it the best he can. He wanted to try it out!

It seems to be stretchy so I hope it’ll fit whoever I send it to. No hat in the mail so I’m alive for another day, well, at least until Monday! I have about eight rows left until I start decreasing. If I don’t get the decreases done tonight, I’ll whip them out tomorrow after church.

It’s fun, but, whew, it takes a lot of work! TTFN!

Ever heard of it? If not, check out the group over on Raverly. Basically, our group owner puts out a pattern to everyone and everyone has someone that they are knitting the hat for. You knit the hat and mail it to your person and hoping you can get that done before you receive a hat in the mail and in essence, get killed! It’s very brutal! I played the first game, I finished my hat and mailed it, but received a hat in the mail before I got the chance to make another. Over 600 people from all over the world are involved, it’s so much fun!

The latest round started on the 16th, I’m a few rounds into the hat, but I wanted to post something fun for tonight. If you are interested in joining Hat Attack III, check out their main website at HAT ATTACK. Not sure when it’ll be, but after the first of the year. It’s fun and you learn a lot of new techniques. Check it out!

Tomorrow I hope I’ll be done with my hat to show some pictures to you of a finished project and once it’s done, I’ll have some more bags for you to try out! TTFN!

So, this is totally not related to school or teachers, but I found this and just had to share! It does fit our theme of bags, purses or totes and it’s something that I am going to try and make for my friend having a baby in the next few months. Better get started!

The bag is a diaper/nappy bag and with all sorts of colors and fabrics, it can be really unique and cool. I think it’d even work as a purse! The website is  ladyknight.wordpress.com and you can get to the tutorial here. She provides lots of pictures, clear instructions and measurements if you want to make it larger or smaller. Since I’m done with the baby thing right now, if I made it a few inches smaller, it’d be great as another purse. Not like I don’t have enough purses, huh?

Check out her blog and let me know if you make one and let her know too. I’m sure she’d love feedback as well! TTFN!