Cutting mat bag

This bag is my solution to a lot of questions...
- How do I store and carry my amazing massive cutting mats to sewing events without them getting scratched or warped? (FYI - there is a removable piece of foam core in the bag with the mats to keep them rigid)
- what do I do with my orphaned hexagon squares? (I made these as practice for a bee square about a year ago and I won't make them again because they were so frustrating, but I love how they look - perfect bag center pieces, I'm thinking)
- What do I make from this one yard of Echino that I won at Sew Modern over a year ago? It has to be something I use and enjoy!
- How can I use a cheater print? Especially in a way that doesn't look like a cop-out?

And so, I conceived of this bag. Worked on it an hour at a time over a few weeks. Finished it today in a rare daytime sewing session at home. The kids were sick (and thus taken down a notch!) so we put on music and they colored while I finally finished this up.
(after the pics, I added some ribbons at the top to keep it closed)

Bag fever and kid fevers

Three out of four of us around here are sick. Mommy is knocking on wood and taking lots of vitamins.
I also keep getting more and more bag ideas and I have to say, I love cutting fabric and laying out ideas, and using up stray blocks or random fabric I have hoarded too long.

Hmmm. Will I trade these? Give these to friends? Not sure yet....

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"She's now figured out if she hadn't watched tv today she could have sewn more bags."

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Finished. And in use.

Just got these pics texted to me. This is why we make quilts and give them away... To see them being loved on, drooled on, and used!

I missed the LAMQG meeting (swap bag)

So I missed the last LAMQG meeting. I was super bummed out, and really had wanted to participate in the tote/grocery bag swap.
But then I learned that a few of my friends had been unable to go and swap, too. So we decided to swap on our own. (yay!)
Here's my bag that I made to swap. It's got an embroidered vintage tea towel piece inset on one side of the outside, and awesome red and white polka dotted IKEA oilcloth (thin, flexible and really durable) on the inside. It's big. I designed it to be big and strong enough to use for groceries.
The fun fact about it is that I sewed it entirely on Mimi's Hello Kitty Janome as I was trying to see if it worked well enough (it does). The lines are not as straight as with my other machines, but this was really heavy, thick fabric - the linen isn't linen - its actually drop cloth fabric that I bought at Lowe's. (crazy legit heavy duty!) - overall the Janome did great.
And the bag is fun. A little vintage. A little new. French seams. Oilcloth. Hardware store fabric. AnnaMaria Horner fabric. IKEA. Improv piecing. It's all happy to me. ... Hoping it's new owner will think so.

Happy Easter from our family!

Finishing up

I've been working on finishing a bunch of WIPs lately... Nothing creative or glamorous... But at least they are now finished. Just sewed the labels on these two quilts and have another binding to finish up, and then it's on to a bunch of new ideas I want to work out.
I'm really looking forward to those... They're all just sketches right now... The next step is the most fun.

Dollar store clay bunnies

Mimi has been asking for clay lately. I picked up some yesterday at the dollar store and she's spent the morning creating a little world for clay bunnies. These lucky bunnies are in their sleeping bags around a campfire (along with their Popsicle stick seesaw in the background).
The flowers from the first pic were crushed to make sleeping bags, but just the memory of their sweetness makes me smile.

Good morning, Z! It's your birthday!

Our birthdays around here always start with streamers and balloons in the kitchen for breakfast and lots of calls from cousins and grandparents.
We figured out this morning that we could snap pics of FaceTime calls and this suddenly made it feel like the whole family was in on our celebrating here.
Z is currently making his poster for the Laker gameS (plural!) we are headed to this weekend. (we will post pics of that for sure!)
It's a big day around here!

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"Quilting in the park on a March afternoon."

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