The Last Bag

This is a teacher's gift for dd's teacher. I've never made one of these recycled jeans bags before, but I thought there was some special irony in making a bag out of the actual jeans that were worn practically every day to school this past year and giving it to her teacher. . .

I hate stretch denim. Look how the front edge ripples along the bottom where it stretched out while I was sewing the bottom gusset on. I should have ripped it out but I didn't. At least I'm giving it away so I won't have to look at it.

The back came out much better, no stretching. All the hand sewing was really hard, needling through stretch denim is impossible (callouses! sore fingers!).

And then I forgot that when you make a ribbon belt you are supposed to continue the ribbon around the back side because that part shows when you wear it. . . So I came up with a strip of red/blue for the back side of the belt.

Other than that I liked making it. I've been wanting to use this fabric for a long time and I loved the embroidery designs of the lanterns which I got from Sublime Stitching.

The little hula dancers are so cute.

Granny Square Bag

I love how this came out. My first crochet project. I made a separate bag to line it with, Amy Butler fabric for the lining, Timtex to stiffen it, and the red fabric behind the squares.

Inside are a few pockets. I embroidered a little message to the teacher it's going to. I put a key fob in the seam too. (I also tacked it to the Timtex, so it wouldn't droop down inside the bag from the weight.)

I hand-stitched the bag lining into the outside shell. The yarn is Sugar and Cream cotton in Jute, 5 balls. I want to keep this one.

On vacation I discovered that my beach bag has a hole in the bottom of it. I made it a few years ago from fiberglass window screen that I embroidered. Don't use windowscreen on the bottom of the bag! Lesson learned. I got at least 3 years use out of it though, and now I get to make a new one. Still need to make one teacher's gift bag, and I am learning toward making one of those recycled jeans bags (yah, I know I've ranted about recycled jeans) out of one of dd's old pairs.



Here's the ripple progess. I thought I might start taking a photo of it on the bed every so often to show how it's growing. Looks like I'm 25-30% done, maybe? I think it looks okay with the other stuff in his bedroom. The light in this room is terrible, so it's hard to get a good photo.

Scrappy Afghan

Here is a scrappy afghan that my mom had just finished last week. It is made up of blocks from her guild's *block of the month* that they publish in their newsletter. I'm not sure how well you can see it in the picture (click on it to enlarge), but she used an alternating crochet slip stitch to join the blocks. That way you can butt the squares against each other (no seam allowances) and it makes a nice decorative effect. She demonstrated it for me and it looks really simple and pretty. I also found it in my Crochet Encyclopedia book.

So, I went to JoAnn's yesterday, to get some tomato red fabric for this project:

See why I need to learn how to join squares? I'm planning a bag (another teacher's gift) and I want to use the Amy Butler print for the lining. I think the granny squares need some bright color behind them to make them pop. I've never constructed a bag like this, so I've got to figure out how to put it together. I might make this one a shoulder bag with a long single crochet strap.

Of course I only went shopping for one piece of fabric and came out with some lime green striped linen for a pair of capris and possibly a skirt, and some spring green interlock and rib for a t shirt and tank top.

Next I went to the yarn department and got all this:

It's a bunch of Caron Simply Soft for a ripple afghan for ds. I am usually a bit of a fiber snob, but I think for a kid's blanket, ACK!crylic will be fine. It's cheap and it's really soft, y'all. His favorite color is green, but his room is blue and red, so I tried to combine them all, with heavy emphasis on green. And I sent an email to join the Ripple Along. Can we say *too many projects?*

I am stalled on the Dollar and a Half cardigan. I keep messing up the lace pattern on the armhole decreases and I put it in time out for a bit. I need to sit down with it when I am fresh and alone and just buzz through that part. The pattern designer has a tutorial at her blog, so I'm going to go over there and try to absorb it all. Doing it my way isn't working. . .

Unfinished Bag

I started working on this bag, made from Amy Butler fabric. It's going to be a teacher's gift. I love quilting, and I used some pearl crown rayon I had in my stash for this. The tension in the bobbin was probably not loose enough, but I liked the *couched* effect, so left it that way.

Lining fabric and pockets.

I'm designing this myself. Basically, it's going to be one long piece of quilted fabric folded over (with Timtex for stiffness). The design means that it's not flat on the bottom, so I need some purse feet for it. I went in search of them today and couldn't find any, so I ordered some from Tall Poppy. Anyone ever used them? I know nothing about them and they were a bit overpriced, but they had some leather handles I've been looking for, so I ordered. I'll let you guys know how it comes out.

I can't decide on handles. Do you like the beaded ones or the grosgrain ribbon applied to the cotton webbing? I could make some fabric ones too, but I hate that. I have a new grommet tool, so I'd like to use that. In my dream for this bag, I imagined a chain handle (like a quilted chanel bag) with a strip of matching fabric woven through. Hmmm.

Opinions welcome and needed.