Much to Catch Up On!

Whilst I may have been neglecting my blog (REALLY missing that old work laptop and the freedom it gave me to access internet anywhere in my home at anytime) I haven't been neglecting my sewing. In fact I have been collecting projects (and more fabric but more on that later...). Here's a list of what I've got on the trot:

1. outfit for EB kids clothing swap
2. 2x Little Uptown Girl winter jackets by Make it Perfect (gotta get my butt into gear and buy me the pattern)
3. 2x little over shoulder bags for my girls (using some of the little menagerie range of fabrics)
4. A few bags for various people (not least of all my lovely, lovely friend - am off to spotlight tomorrow to get the fusible fleece and interfacing so I can hurry up and get started) - I have 3 in all so far but may do some more
5. some winter outfits for my girls
6. A table runner for my table (my lovely, lovely friend was going through her fabric scraps with me and I 'inhertied' a lovely piece that will be perfect for the top - waiting on the backing to arrive from the Fabric Shack)
7. A soft case for my new pink Dell Inspiron mini 10 that I ordered yesterday for my birthday (so then I can internet anywhere at anytime again) and I might make one of these also for my sister who received a little netbook from her husband for her birthday last year

And then there's the cute tutorials and patterns that keep cropping up on CraftGossip (oh my, discovering this site has given me SO much inspriation) like some gorgeous retro rompers (next summer, I think) and some cute dragon slippers (I have nephews, you know!). It's also where I found the pattern for the bag that I am making my lovely, lovely friend (no link to this one people's until after - gotta keep it a surprise) and the pattern for the softcase I will make for my netbook.

Speaking of my lovely, lovely friend, she asked me to sew her a bag for her youngest son who was about to start daycare. In all honesty, most of my fabrics are all pretty and girly but I was determined there must be SOMETHING in my collection. Turns out I was right. Here is a shot of everything I could pull together that I thought would be suitable (some of this came from the scraps that I 'inherited' from my lovely, lovely friend when we went through her stuff).

And here is what I did with it. She justed wanted something basic so I went with drawstring but made straps from the strings and added a pocket.

Then I made it reversible. The strings/straps have snaps on them to attach to whichever side of the bag she wants externally facing and with a pocket on each side it means she has an external pocket and an internal pocket. Perfect for any items that need to be slightly safer from little hands.

While we are talking drawstring bags. Here are the little ones I knocked up a few weeks back for my own girls to store the sheets they need to take to daycare these days.

I thought I would share some new fabric that just arrived from Two Little Fairies Fabric. The top one with the lovely butterflies will form one side of one of the Little Uptown Girl winter jackets. The two underneath that are part of the Little Menagerie collection (I won/purcahsed them in a charity auction for flood affected victims in QLD - what a great way to raise money. They get my $$$ and I get some lovely fabric!). The back 2 is some really sweet and divinely soft flannel. Not quite sure what to do with that yet other than that I have this lovely fabric that my lovely, lovely friend gave me as part of my baby shower gift. It's a velveteen type fabric with little silver ballet slippers printed on it. I have it in dark pink and light pink. I though the flannel might make a nice lining for the hood or something. I also though it might make a nice lininig for the softcase for my netbook. The outside will be some lovely japanese print scrap fabric I picked up from Spotlight the other day. I'll get around to some photos in due time.

And last but not least, as mentioned, I'm awaiting a delivery from the Fabric Shack.

Contained in this order is some of the fabric for the kids clothes sewing swap, fabric for bags, more Little Menagerie, the backing for my runner, some sweet cord that was on sale for some winter outfits, and the rest of the fabric for the Little Uptown Girl jackets. I think that's all. It left there Friday last week so hopefully it'll be with me mid-late next week. Oooooh, how exciting! Oh, and I might have trawled the scrap bin at spotlight and picked up some cheapies. See, I told you we kinda created a monster!