pleated purse

I started this bag earlier this month during our last bag ladies night. I found the corduroy fabric for $3/meter on clearance and I wanted to make the bag to take to hockey games. But I love it so much I use it all the time.

I got the pattern from here. My bag turned out more square/rectangular than I had expected but still super cute.

There is lots of room inside; I made extra pockets for my lipstick/gloss collection and of course I had to have one for Mini-E lol!

And now my bag, me and Mini-E are off an extra special adventure. Stay tuned ;)

blah

I'm sick. Jim is sick. At least the two of us have it together(awww lol). So nothing new to post. I took Wednesday off to rest up for the rest of the week. We are pretty swamped with quilts right now(yay!) and I can't afford to take any time off. But I also can't afford to get totally run down. It's a fine line isn't it?

Last Friday night, Bag Ladies got together at work for another fun night. There were 7 of us this time, a great sized group.


From left to right, Deana, Sarah and Marcia

Deana was working on some super cute Grab Bags but with her little helper, she wasn't able to get much done.

Evie is sure a cutie though isn't she?



Sarah and Marcia were both finishing up some messenger bags. Sarah got right into sewing; look at all that thread lol.




But she got her bag finished. Cute isn't it? lol!



We had a giggle when my bag strap *attacked* Deana.





From left to right again, Cindy, Jill and Andrea.

Cindy and I both worked on the pleated purse. Jill was making another reversible bag than switched to a beautiful table runner. Andrea was making little Christmas bags(it is less than 3 months away!)

Cindy brought a super yummy Sour Cream Chocolate Cake and Andrea made a delicious raspberry rhubard platz. And I forgot to take a picture, sorry Andrea! It was just too good.


Can't wait for next time!

bag me again

I started this bag almost a month ago when we had our last Bag Ladies sewing night. I finally got it put together on Monday.

I love the bag. I love how it is all co-ordinated since I used Moda's Chocolat fabric(I'm hoarding some of that too lol)



Nice and roomy inside with a lots of pockets




Now to find a pattern for Friday night's Bag Lady meeting

will i drive you crazy

If I do another bag post? lol

Tonight my dear sister in law babysat our youngest two kids while we had a meet the teacher night at the high school. We had the Phoebe bags to finish that we had started and Erica wanted to make another Buttercup Bag for her mom

I have to say, I am surprised we got them finished. Both of us are completely worn out and Erica heads back to Calgary tomorrow so tonight was our only chance to finish these.

I'm not thrilled with the Phoebe Bag. The instructions weren't exactly clear so we ended up muddling through. I think we ended up taking the bags apart a total of 4 times before we figured out what the instructions were trying to say.

I do love the shape. And the fabric I used for this one. I got the exterior fabric for $1.50/meter on clearance at Fabricland and the green check was in my stash



Erica's is a thank you gift for a friend who cared for Erica's kitties while they have been here.



And Erica's Buttercup bag made with Moda Chocolat. We need to finish the top stitching; I did it twice and ended up taking it out. I'm just too tired to do it right lol

bagged

Sorry there wasn't/isn't a Quilt Monday today. We had my Grandpa's funeral today and our weekend has consisted of helping set up for the service, picking up family members for airports and just getting together as a family. In all that, we even had a birthday. Our oldest turned 14. I can't believe I am a mother of a 14yr old! Am I that old? Don't answer that lol.

The service was lovely, thank you all for you kind words regarding my Grandfather's passing. At 98yrs old, every year we had with him was a gift

Saturday my sister in law Erica, mom and cousin Melody decided we needed to bag. They went off for a quick fabric pick-up to Hamels, and don't worry, I'm staying strong on the fabric diet!

Our pattern of the night, the Buttercup Bag. Erica decided to make her's the regular size with a fabric strap. The rest of us went with the larger bag and handles

Just over 3 hours later, we had 4 bags finished! I love how super easy this pattern is. We did change it a bit and added some pellon to the lining to stiffen the bag up a bit more. We also changed the pleats in the front of the bag and added an inverted pleat to the middle instead of having the pleats go all in the same direction.

Erica's bag



Mom's



Melody's



Mine



The bags were so quick, mom decided to sew the binding on the quilty I snuck in the other day at work



And Erica decide we needed to make another bag so her she is prepping the pieces of a Phoebe Bag



Stay tuned to see how those turn out

read all about it!

A friend of a friend heard about our bag nights and our Facebook Group and asked to write an article for a local newspaper on us. The article came out today and we couldn't be more excited over it. You can read it in it's entirety here We love how the article turned out, this just came about Monday night!

Had a great day at work today. I had a customer coming to pick up two quilts and when I left work yesterday, I wasn't finished her last quilt. Thankfully I was able to get it done and trimmed up with 15 minutes to spare lol

It was such a great work day, that I was even able to sneak in a quilty for me this afternoon. Hope your day was a great one too!

not a quilt quilt monday

Sorry nothing new quiltie to show today. I have so many things at the almost completed stage and can't take pictures of them yet.

As a result, I'm going to show another bag that I made. I had cute both of these out when we had our first bag night. Mom had commented that she would like a new mailbag for work so that is what I had planned to make.

I cut it out big; 21inches. I wasn't able to finish it that night so I took it with me on our holidays and got it finished there.

It is HUGE. I mean GIANT lol.



I didn't want the second one that big so I cute 6 inches off it before I sewed it together. I also added a pocked to the smaller one.

Here you can see how big the first bag is. Mom loves it; you can cram ALLOT of mail into it lol

is this the kind of iron

You put water into?

That was a quote from last night. And to protect the innocent(giggle) I'm not going to reveal WHO said that, but it was pretty funny. Or maybe we were just all overtired.

Anyway, last night Sarah invited a bunch of us over to have another bag making night. Cindy and I were both going to do the large patchwork bag from the fall issue of Quilts and More. Sarah and Marcia were making more of these totes and Alexa was doing a messenger bag



I really wish I had precut my fabric. I think it took just under an hour to cut all the pieces. Than I discovered after I had cut almost all my interfacing that it WASN'T fusible-ahhhhhhh. But than Cindy had the idea to sew the bag together and than put a whole sheet of interfacing on it, instead of per piece. I did that and it has worked great. Thanx for the great tip Cindy!



I didn't get the entire bag done. And it's a BIG bag lol. I used leftovers of Moda Chocolat(still my favorite) See how it looks like a fabric garbage can? lol



And here's the completed(mostly lol) bags.



Mine is on the left, than Sarah's two tote bags she made for her sons to take to their piano lessons. Next is Marcia's tote(LOVE this Pixie Belle fabric from Fabricland. Really fighting bringing some home lol.) Marcia also made a little holder for all her crochet needles etc; isn't it cute? Than we have Alexia's messenger bag(now that fabric I am not going to fight getting. It's a beautiful denim. That will soon be living in my fabric stash lol) And than Cindy's In Town Bag by Amy Butler

We were able to convince Alexa to model her messenger bag but she said we had to cut off her head lol




Cindy and I headed home at midnight. I have to finish up my bag lining and than shove the whole thing together. Sarah and Marcia actually started more bags when we left and Sarah completed one of these 4patch Swing Bags but I believe she made her's bigger. Check out the changes she made. It's posted on her blog.

Thanx for such a fun evening!!

late night sewing

Last night I wandered down the street to Cindy's place. The new Quilts and More magazine had been released earlier in the week and we had plans to make the Swing Bag.

I do love how this turned out; just not happy with how small it is. I think some funky photographing was done in taking the magazine picture or the model they used was very tiny. We did change the strap from webbing to a single fabric strap; I like the look of the fabric strap better.

I'm debating about selling this bag(if you are interested, let me know). Or maybe I'll keep it for carrying around my favorite book

french lessons

Before I went on holidays, I picked up Amy Butler's Frenchy Bag pattern hoping I could make one while I was away.

Erica was pretty excited by the pattern and she cut out a bag for each of us



The bags were super easy to put together. We got Erica's entirely completed and mine to the second last step in about 2 hours. Not bad!

Here is Erica's bag



And mine which I finished up tonight.



I love the pockets inside. Enough room for my wallet, cell and Mini-E of course!

bags bags and more bags

I have been completely bitten by the bag obsession. I love how fast you can whip one right up.



I made these two while in Calgary last week. Both are fully reversible. The red one has the yellow floral inside and the floral bag has green fabric that matches the red on the inside. Clear as mud? lol



Pattern can be found here. Bet you can't make just one ;)

bonding time

My sister in law Erica isn't a sewer. And she's not a quilter. She would be the first one to admit that. I knew I was taking a chance with my box of fabric and patterns that I packed to come along on our holiday.

But it was welcomed with open arms. And Erica jumped at the chance to make a messenger bag like the teacher's gifts I had made.

I cut it out for her but Erica did 95% of all the sewing. And it turned out fabulous. Great job Erica!

bag night

Last night some of the Ladies Who Lunch got together at work to do some bag making.

We all decided to make this bag

Here is Cindy instructing Sarah on cutting out her fabric



Everyone listening intently on the next step


Jill caught my measuring and marking mistake just before she cut her fabric-opps! Good eye Jill!


I apparently was making measuring mistakes all night-note how my two bags are NOT the same size lol


Jill almost finished here; just the straps to go


Deana was able to get her bag finished even with Little Evie there cheering her on.


Jill deciding another bag or maybe a funky skirt?


And check out her fantastic shoes. Interesting that we wear the same size ;)


At the end of the night, almost everyone had finished their bags

Sarah got two done


Deana with hers


Jill so nicely modeled them all for us. Mine is the chunk of fabric on the end; I just need to add my straps


Than it was suggested we take a *funky* picture. So I laid on the floor for it. I was laughing so hard I'm surprised the picture turned out. Plus I was falling over


Thanx for such a fun night! Even Mini-E had fun