Swimmin' with the Mammals. And Fishes. (AKA Handmade Holidays, Part 3)

So... remember those dolphin crayons I made for the nephews for Chanukah and Christmas?  I finally made the storage bags for 'em!

I used this tutorial, without the applique since I had that awesome shark fabric.  And yes, I know dolphins are mammals and sharks are fish, but they're all sea life, right?  So it goes.  Right?  The lining and base fabric is from t-shirts.  The hardest part?  The channel for the ribbon ties.  I've gotten more proficient at bags, though.  The first one took me about an hour and a half.  The second... about half an hour!

And each bag is the perfect size for an entire set of the jumbo crayons!  I knew they would be.  

Now to get the bags done for those beanbags...

Handmade Holidays

Now that it's post-Thanksgiving, it's OK to talk winter holidays:  Chanukah & Christmas... and my nephew's December 22nd birthday.  I've been working on gifts.  First, these numbered beanbags.

For the front fabric, I used a pair of old corduroy pants.

For the fabric backs, I used fabrics from all different sources.

For instance, the sharks, monkeys, pawprints, and dinosaurs came from JoAnn Fabrics and were purchased for projects like this.  The motorcycles and planes were from a little mom & pop fabric shop nearby.  The red swirly fabric I bought over a year ago to back a quilt kit I never made.  And the two striped ones are old shirts of mine.

Then I did numbers to match the backs.

Once I had a stack of parts, I needed to iron on the number appliques.

Then I sewed around the appliques.  These, for the record, were my first-ever appliques.  For those of you who are really beginner sewing types like I am, some things I learned:

Sewing that damned zigzag around an applique is hard.  Seriously.  Of course, it got easier most of the way through when I realized that the little notch line on my sewing machine foot was the center line of the stitch.  Yeah.  I'm a little... rather than dim, we'll call it not observant.  So before that, it was really hard to keep the stitching on the edge of the numbers and I had to rip some out and redo them.  Honestly, even after I figured that out it was hard.  Stitches are as big as they are, and I'm still working out how to gauge getting the stitches where they need to be when it's time to turn the fabric.  Speaking of which, the tutorial is not kidding about the slowness and futziness of the sewing of the appliques.  Slow.  And futzy.

In the end, they came together.  How cute are these?

I've got the beginnings of another set in green for the other nephew, but first I have something else I'm working on.  It's something I've never done before and involves my very own patterns.  You'll see soon!

These beanbags, though, are now available for purchase in the Reef Botanicals Handmade Artists Shop.

Shared with:

Misfits Love Company

So I made a friend for Hamish & Mad Hungry.  Meet Moo Moo the Owl!

He's soooo soft, made from a sweater knit fabric I found at a tiny local fabric shop (which happens to be on the way home from a place Eric gets his beer brewing ingredients), one of Eric's old socks, some white felt, and a couple of buttons.

You know, it's amazing how much stuffing fits into something so small.  Just sayin'.

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Ooooooooooh, Dangerous. But Useful!

JoAnn's.  Oh, man, JoAnn's has become so dangerous for me.  I've always been a fan of craft-type stores, The Rag Shop (defunct now), Michael's, and A.C. Moore.

Since I started sewing, I've discovered JoAnn Fabrics.  The nearest one to me was in Ramsey, over 20 miles away.  With traffic.  It was in a strip mall, small and crowded.  Narrow aisles, tough to really see and find what you need.  Still an addiction, of course.  But I could walk out of there with just one or two fabrics easily.

And then one day in July, Eric and I were coming back from the mall and there it was.  A new one.  10.6 miles from our house, a stand-alone store.  We went, and found it to be bright and spacious, with wide aisles and tons more inventory.  Yikes.

We went in, planning to spend $50... and left having spent $100, with coupons.  Oops.  But look what I got!

How adorable are those dinosaurs?  I love that they say what they are in them!  And then there are these smiley monkeys.

Aren't they great?

And these sharks a nod to my sister's first love - she wanted to be a marine biologist and study sharks when she was a kid.  I'll have to make something for my nephew.  Any ideas?

I've got these pawprints too, just 'cause I couldn't leave without them.

I got some stuff for me, too, not just the kids.  This colorful one is for a sewing machine cover.

With this great green on the reverse side.

I love this great yellow batik, which I figured for the interior of a knitting tote or bag for myself.

With this great blue and yellow batik for the outside of the bag.

I have this duffel bag pattern I want to make, and Eric wants me to use these great penguins.

I also got this great purple knit to make a denim/knit skirt for myself from an old pair of jeans.

I don't have any specific plans for this green felt, but figured it'd be handy to have around.  Same for this pretty olive green fabric.

I got this amazingly soft, fluffy yarn with the intent of knitting finger puppets.

And this purple canvas remnant will be perfect for part of the "quiet" books I want to make for the nephews.

Then I also got some generally useful things...

And today?  Today I finally used some of the fabric!  I followed this tutorial and made a holder for all of our supermarket bags!  It was pretty quick and let me remove the smashed-in pile of bags from the shelf of the baker's rack.  Awesome!