AVA ROSE TOTES, AGAIN!

Here are a two more pictures of the Ava Rose Totes as previously posted here.  It's amazing how productive and accomplished one can feel after some "sewing therapy".

Ava Rose Tote pattern by Artsy-Crafty Babe

The tote is made with vintage Hawaiian print fabric that is 100% pre-washed cotton.  I tried to center the lovely hula gal in the front's middle.  The interior is burgundy and am quite pleased how it turned out.

And here's another tote:

Ava Rose Tote pattern by Artsy-Crafty Babe

This lovely tote is made w/upholstery fabric and is very sturdy!   It has a wooden button closure and a contrasting cotton interior.  Yes, I have an early start for Xmas.  Trying  move my fabric stash so I can buy more (wink).

What do you do for your own zen therapy?

Simple Tote

Another Christmas has come and gone...Hope y'all had a Christmas full of peace and happiness.  This year, I tried as much as I could to make gifts for everyone.  However, precious time was very limited but I did get a chance to make a few handmade gifts.  While there are very expensive gifts to purchase and give, I hope my children realize it is the thought of the gift that is much more important than what department store you purchased the gift from and how much it costs.

The Simply Style Tote was a quick and easy tote to put jogether in time for Christmas:

I'll show you more later......  Can you guess what else I made for Xmas gifts?  Stay tuned!

CATCHING UP

First of all, Happy one-day-after Valentine's day!  It's been busy in our hmble abode and have a few minutes to do this quick post 'cause I'm just so proud of myself....



Well, my hubby officially banned me from the fabric store.  You see, we cleaned out our little storage shed that lives in our backyard, only to find seven large bins of fabric (large bins----oooooops!).  I found a bunch of unfinished projects and thought to tackle them, one by one....that leads me to this post.



About six years ago, a good friend of mine announced that she was expecting her first child.  I thought to make her a baby blanket and bag as I found sewing to be a zen for me and wanted to do something special for her  Well, it got over my head and basically got overwhelmed by the project.  It was put away temporarily thinking it would get completed sooner or later.  Guess it was later than sooner instead.  Here it is, six years later:

I got the idea from some magazine out of the doctor's office.  Guess it pays to sit and wait, and wait and wait 'till the doctor is ready to see his patient.



My inspiration for the bag originally came from a gift I rec'd from my first child.  It was such a simple gift that I used over and over I kept the idea of a tote and blanket  in the back burner.  The tote idea pattern came from this Log Cabin book. 

Best thing about it is that you can see the design from the layout pages before the blocks are sewed together.  Okay, I need an expecting mother that will appreciate the HOURS AND HOURS AND HOURS I had no idea it would take to finish this (sigh!).



Tote interior large pocket



Tote interior small pocket

Yep, this is that famous clown fish from that popular movie, uh, SIX years ago.  I'm not crazy about the color and value combination.  I think I'm a little better today with putting fabrics together, just a little.  I'm still learning.

I had enough xtra blocks from both the tote and blanket to make two cute little pillows.  Just hafta "stuff" them later.

My favorite of this project was the bag.  Little "b" chose the log cabin design out of the book.  I think she made a pretty choice!



Close up of them little bitty strips that was so time consuming (for me) but I feel great that I finally finished this project.



Ya think she'll want to have another baby so I can finally give her this?  Okay, I hafta call her.

Simply Style Tote Round 2

Remember my Simply Stylish Tote I made some time ago.  Well, a good friend of mine admired it greatly and actually place my first ever order.  She had a few specific requests so it took some time to shop for that perfect handle and fabric color. 

This was my first time working with store-bought handles.  It was quite a challenge considering my handle tabs were cut a little too short and I just got too lazy to cut longer ones and was determined to make this happen! 

Finally, a few months later, it's done!  I'm calling her my Rita Bag made with cotton canvas, faux suede and natural fiber handles.

Thank you Rita for your order.  I hope you enjoy the bag as much as I enjoyed making it just for you!  You think she'll like it?

BAGS FROM HOLLY

My cousin, "Holly", is a very talented bag/tote designer/maker and has inspired me to try out bag/tote making after seeing her creations.  Recently, I picked up an "envelope" from the Post Office and was really excited to see the return addy was from Holly.  

Aside from the goodies she packed for my two kids, she also packed me the cutest reversible handmade tote:

I have to give full credit to my at the time 9-year old "photographer" daughter who insisted this is THE photo for this post.   Why, of course it is!  Totally love the length of the handles and the size of the tote is perfect for many uses! 

She sewed in a strap on each side of the top to tie it closed and also sewed in pockets (I love pockets!).  It was perfect for my Farmers Market trip.  Got lots of looks w/smiles when they saw my tote so I take that as a compliment!  Love the earthy warm colors she used!

These are just a few of her fabulous handmade gifts that I am so lucky to be the recipient of:

Thanks Holly, I appreciate them all!  Don't you just love gifts that are handmade!

MARKET BAG

Another Market Tote Bag from Sweetwater....This was made from fabric that I really didn't feel it deserved throwing out.  It is also from some denim that was reserved to be upcycled!  The only thing that was purchased to finish up this tote was the interior lining....It's a really nice blue, perfect for summer!

Handles were made from denim scraps as well as the back panel.  Luckily, the back denim  was large enough to be one piece:

I added the front hardware again....it really makes sense to have this for a cell phone, iphone, itouch, ipod, etc.  And of course, here's my tag, very simple, just how I like things...

Since this was a denim project, a little button was added in the front just for the heck of it....

And here it is, my newest Market Tote:

As you can see, the front pocket is actually from the denim trouser....it was in such good condition that I had to put it to use.  I enjoyed making this!..Cute!

SIMPLY STYLISH TOTE

Back to sewing!  Found some really cute fabric at Kilauea Kreations, a cute little quilt shop on the east side of the island.  I really like orange and thought what a cute tote it would make.  So, here I go....dug up a cute pattern from this website.  For this tote, I extened the width 2" making it 15 inches wide instead of 13 inches.  I used a pretty Robert Kaufman fabric for the lining I got from a local fabric store:

Used some D-rings that were on sale at Wal*Mart::

I like using this Bb & me tag....makes it look "special".  I made a little yoyo from some scrap fabric and sewed a cute little button in the middle:

Here she is....SIMPLY STYISH TOTE:

From this project, I learned that using interfacing on the back of the exterior fabric makes a difference, to me.  It was advised that if  fusible fleece is used on the back of the lining, it isn't necessary to use any interfacing on the exterior fabric.  While to some it does not matter, I personally like the feel and crisp look of a bag that uses interfacings both on the lining AND exterior fabric.  I also used magnetic snaps on this tote.  So cute!

FRIENDSHIP BAGS

Each time a project is completed, I go through the scrap box and cut out strips and square for future projects.  Here are three more Friendship Bags that were made from little strips of fabrics that were too pretty to discard:

Here's my simple little lable again, this time on the side of the little tote since there wasn't anything happening in the front:

My "Little b" has already reserved the bags for her friends.....She's also excited to make a few more maybe to start  "Friendship Bag" club. 

Thank you to Rachel for providing the tutorial where you can find it here.