.: Sew Together Bags :.

So I've been to QuiltCon and come home again - but before I download all my pics and put them + my thoughts into some sort of order to share, I thought I'd first share the Sew Together Bags + Australia! tote I took along with me.  Just quickly - QuiltCon surpassed every expectation I had, I can't tell you enough how much I loved it.  More on that later. 

First up for now - the Sew Together Bags! - I made four at once, two for me to take to Austin, and one each for my girls.  Exciting aside - I met Michelle from Sew Demented, the designer of the STB pattern - she and her daughter were staying in the same hotel. 

I made quilted panels for the exterior of all four bags, and made the 'Cat' bag a little bigger than the pattern, so I could take my 3 1/2 " x 9 1/2" ruler along for my class with Penny! (which was very awesome, will share about it soon).

Get ready for lots of pics - first up my 'Cat' bag - which I used for my sewing supplies.

And now my 'Try a New Hairstyle Crafting Genius' bag - so named for Ceri's fun 'Good Intentions' fabric and Shannon's Aunty Cookie girl. I took my pins for the QuiltCon pin swap in this one - and was rummaging through it in the lift at the hotel when I met Michelle!  And a little side note - the gorgeous Heather Ross Mendocino mermaids you can see below? - Heather Ross said in her lecture (oh how much I loved seeing Heather Ross and hearing her words!) that Windham will be reprinting Mendocino next year! 

This next bag is for my younger daughter - each of the girls chose their own colour palette and fabrics for their bags.  Choosing fabrics for the bags was by far the slowest part of the whole process!

And now my oldest daughter's bag.

I love these bags, once all the fabrics and zips were chosen, and the interfacing ironed on, they were quick to sew together.  I had a tricky time with the side panels, and my binding is a little wonky, but they're not up for any awards so that's ok.  Michelle's pattern is great, and I also referred to the excellent step-by-step guide on The Quilt Barn. 

I'll be back soon to share my Australia! tote, and THEN all my pics from QuiltCon.  Hope you've had a good week.  xoxo cat

.: Handmade Christmas - let's get this party started :.

Ever since I started sewing, I've had Christmases where EVERY gift I give has to be handmade, and then others where for whatever reason - time, mood, life, a too-hot summer to be sewing - I don't have the same handmade-gift-giving-obsession.

This year is a handmade year (despite it being a very humid, hot summer so far ...).  Not EVERY gift will be handmade but a lot of them will be - bags, coasters, mini-quilts, cushions, zip-pouches.  So let's start with this one - a tote bag for my younger daughter's very fabulous + awesome teacher. 

I wanted to use one of our cat&vee panels for the back, so I cut a piece of batting a little larger than the panel, and made a quilt-as-you-go piece for the front.  I started with the Melody Miller typewriter and went from there, slowly choosing and adding favourites.

I sewed a strip to go across the top, and then added it as a whole piece.  This teacher is an absolute favourite, she has now taught both my girls and we're very blessed to have been in her class. 

For the lining and pocket, I used fabrics to make her think of her grand-daughter, Lily! - are you with me on the lily-pads line-of-thought?

For the handles, I pieced fabrics that would go well with the bag's front and back.  I'd run out of interface, so lined them with strips of calico, which seems to have worked just fine.

And for the back of the tote - our 'Stand Out from the Crowd' panel, which is just perfect for this gorgeous lady.

I'll be back to share a few more pressies over the next few days.  Are you having a handmade Christmas, or are you off to find a few goodies at the shops instead?  A mix of both is usually my favourite thing to do.  xoxo cat

.: feel good Friday - the grandmother of all totes! :.

In a couple of weeks I'm very fortunate + very happy to be going to one of Camille Roskelley's trunk shows AND a Red Letter Day class - so very excited!  The odds are very high - when you gather a gaggle of fabric-and-quilt-lovin' ladies in one room with someone as awesome as Camille - that there will be many, many, many gorgeous hand-made creations featuring Camille's beautiful fabrics - I really can't wait to see everyone's bags, zip-pouches and whatever else they have made!  

So.  I thought "I'll make a tote bag to take along.  I'll use a couple of our panels, some gorgeous Bonnie+Camille fabrics, and some other favourite fabrics.  Yes.  That's a plan".  I also had sleepovers vaguely at the back of my mind - the overnight bag is never big enough to hold the pillow and sleeping bag too - so the two panels I chose also serve as messages to our girls for when they are away from home - Be Kind Be Smart Be Brave and Love You Like Crazy.  

I was happily pulling fabrics and sewing away, and the tote-panels were getting bigger and bigger, when I got an email yesterday about the class, saying we need to get our machines tagged and tested!  After a mini panic, I picked up the pace so I could finish the tote and put my machine in for a service tomorrow. 

For these pics, I've filled the tote with a pillow, sleeping-bag, little quilt and our girls' much-loved Winnies.  It's quite hysterically-huge, it's like the grandmother of all tote bags.  

I shared a couple of pics here of the front and back panels - before I added the Parson Gray 'Rain' to the bottom - so you can see all the gorgeous fabrics a little better there. 

For the lining, I used a cute animal print, a gorgeous Lisa Congdon flags print, and the Bonnie+Camille Bliss spots in pale aqua/white.  And I made a pocket! - from some Miss Kate candy squares, trimmed with some Happy Go Lucky, and then sewed one of our fab new labels on the front. 

Here's the inside:

 And the inside of the pocket:

And now here is the grandmother-tote flattened out on the table.  Can I just say too - the handles - they're my favourite-ever Bonnie+Camille design - the red/cream flowers on aqua blue from Bliss.  I'm still hoarding a couple of yards of it ... though I'm planning on using some in the Red Letter Day quilt. 

I'm so very happy it's finished and ready for action.  I'm going to fill it with all my fabrics and goodies for Camille's class, and then start waiting impatiently for my machine to come home again next week - tagged, tested and ready for Red Letter Day. 

{the Winnies say bye}

Here's to a happy Friday and great weekend everyone.  xoxo cat

.: sewtakeahikeundies-a-thon :

The very lovely + talented Penny from Sewtakeahike shared her undies pattern with us all.  There have been so many fun + funny undies popping up everywhere - if you are on instagram, take a look at #sewtakeahikeundies.

I copied the undies-template into a couple different sizes, then made little plastic templates so I could work out some fun fussy-cuts for all my undies.  Originally, I was going to make some zip-pouches for travelling, but then I decided I wanted to sew all the undies into just a couple of bags which I can use more often ... oh, the possibilities ... 

Once again, I turned to Jeni's fabulous lined-drawstring-bag tutorial.  I've made two undies-bags for me - one with two undies, and one with four.  Let the undies-a-thon begin.

['hairstyle lady' is from "Good Intentions" by Cerigwen on Spoonflower]

['daily reminder undies' are also from 'Good Intentions']

[undies for those bah humbug! days ... wish I had more of this fabric, it was a scrap-pressie from someone, I just can't remember who!]

[I LOVE this cat!  So wish I'd bought more of this fabric]

[for those days where you are feeling secretly superior ... ]

[time to spruce up ... ]

And here are way too many pics of the bags ... I followed Jeni's instructions, except for a specific size - I sewed a 'front piece' and then worked out my lining measurements based on that. 

[mug + pencils for size-reference ... how much are you loving the Kate Spade mug ... yep, me too]

[the lining for this one is a gorgeous Tula Pink, and the drawstrings are fab Prints Charming for Spotlight]

[the back - Violet Craft Waterfront Park on top, Denyse Schmidt Chicopee on the bottom - love them both] 

[my favourite Prints Charming lime green starbursts for the lining, and Tula Pink for the drawstrings]

I don't even think my undies-obsession is over ... I have the templates stashed away ready to make some more, once I've ticked a few other things off my to-do list.  Hope you all have a very happy weekend.  xoxo cat

.: we've been sewing ... just not blogging much :.

Happy school holidays to you!  We are coming to an end of our wonderful school hols - the kids go back to school the day after Easter Monday.  We've had a very relaxing, pottering-around kind of holiday, which is exactly what we needed after a crazy-busy first term.  

It's ages since I've shared some pics of sewing - so here's what I've been making over the past few weeks.  If you follow me on instagram (I'm @hellofromcat and Vee is @hellofromvee - you can click through to our pics using the button in the right-hand sidebar) - you'll have seen all these pics before ... just so you know ... :-)

First up - a trio of Easter Bunnies, sewn from a sweet pattern by Rosalie Quinlan.  I love faffing about choosing fabrics to fussy-cut for the ears and tummies.   

Next is a birthday pressie for our friend Tracy - a pair of personalised undies, from Penny's awesome undies pattern - Penny's #sewtakeahikeundies tag on instagram is so fun to look through!  I sewed the undies into a project-sized lined drawstring bag, using In Color Order Jeni's excellent pattern. 

And now, a couple of pressies using our Bela Hoo screen-printed panels - first up, a pretty massive tote-bag for an owl-loving girl:

And last for today - a Bela Hoo cushion - I haven't made a 'boy' cushion for such a long time!

I took the cushion-pics with the cushion sitting on my ironing-board, which is oh-so-well located under this fun print, a constant reminder of my domestic Queen-dom ... if you look hard, you can even see me in the reflection in the print, but I'm not wearing my crown:

I've got even MORE sewing to share, but figure that's enough to catch you up on for one day!  I'm aiming to be back over the weekend with more pics.  Here's to a great Easter weekend, whatever it is you are doing.  We are off to church tomorrow for Good Friday, and again on Easter Sunday (we're missing tonight's Maundy Thursday service though ...).  My husband is on keyboard-and-singing duties for both services.  On Sunday we're having a family lunch, as it's also my sister's birthday.  Take care xoxo cat

.: a coupla pressies to share :.

A couple of pressies to share with you today.

First up, a library bag (+ books!) for Vee's gorgeous son, whose birthday is next week.  I KNOW that a library bag + books are not the most exciting of pressies for a small boy, but we figure the baby-Star Wars fabric + the lovely time to be had reading the books together, will make up for it ... hmmmm ....  yep, no bright lights, loud noises, or Skylandery type gear going on here. 

Here's a close-up of the fab fabric - click here if you would like to click through and buy some for yourself.  It comes in blue and pink colourways too! 

And next - and last - it's not like it's been a pressie-making-frenzy around here, there's just the two - a project-sized lined drawstring bag, from the excellent pattern by Jeni from In Color Order. 

This is for my sister-in-law, who is a fairly recent knitter - she took a series of classes, and then took off like a rocket.  She doesn't crochet, so I thought that using the crochet-square fabric from Spotlight would be kind of funny.  The blue fabric is Lizzy House's pearl bracelets, and the pink drawstrings are from the fabulous Prints Charming collection for Spotlight.  

And the lining is a Suzuko Koseki print.  The wool is just for the photos - the bag is such a great size, it comfortably holds 5, 6, 7 balls of wool.  Plus, I guess, knitting needles, or crochet-hooks, and other woolly-project needs ... all of which shall forever remain a mystery to me. 

That's it from me for the weekend.  Gosh the weekends seem even more precious, now that our oldest has started high school.  Life is so much busier and crazier during the week, so each weekend provides some greatly needed down-time for all of us.  Hope you are enjoying your weekend too.  xoxo cat