A New Bag

My Gabby Bag is off to its new owner. With luck it will arrive today. Canada Post is no longer threatening job action, so I sent it off on Monday.

Meanwhile, I got back to my Gondola Shawl.

I am  a bit behind, but I have finished part 2 and am well into part 3. There are only 4 parts in total. I think this small shawl will make a bright scarf in the fall.

I also got a new bag cut out. I always marvel at how many pieces it takes to make a bag.  since many of the pieces are very nearly the same size, I find it is essential to label all the pieces.

This is another Two-Timing Tote, designed by Bethany at Sweet Bee Buzzings.

This bag is a commission and the fabric came from my friend's stash. She wanted green, and what piece will be used where was somewhat determined by the sizes of the pieces she had in her stash. I need to fuse interfacing to all these pieces, and tomorrow is suppose to be cool, so I think this will work out well. I also need to make 2 1/2 metres of piping. Not a hard job, just a bit tedious. After those tasks are done, the fun of sewing it all together starts.

For the kitten fans, I managed to catch 2 of my 3 busy little boys.

I think Stewart is plotting his next bit of mischief.

I caught Dave at naptime, his look says "What?"

Gerry had temporarily gone to wherever it is that kittens go when they don't want to be found.

They are nearly double the size they were when they arrived, four weeks ago. I expect they will graduate to Adoption soon.

A Bag of Bags

My Quilt group met this morning, and I took this for show and tell.

It is a bag full of bags, that I completed in the past week.

The outer bag is Gabby. It was the April pattern for the Bag of the Month Pattern Club. The others were impressed by the binding around the outer zipper pocket. Of course, it is caused by the stabilizer being too thick to fold the facing all the way into the opening, so I tried to keep it even all the way around. It worked really well. The stabilizer in this bag is "Stiff Stuff" by Sew Lazy Girl.  You can find the Gabby Bag Pattern, here.

The other side of the bag is plain. The front will be determined by the user. More by luck then anything, all the zippers are going the same way. I never seem to think of that until the bag is finished. The zipper pull says "Handmade" on it.  I got it here.

I think a bag needs lots of pockets, so this bag has them.

A zippered pocket is on the inside as well.

Of course, some little cats jumped into the bag to become the slip pockets.

As I was finishing this bag, it was promptly claimed by a dear one, so it will be off to BC this week.

I was in the mood to play a bit, and there was a fat eighth sitting on my cutting table.

This is a mash up of Noodlehead Wide Open Zipper Pouch, and the Sweetpea Pod. I think it will be perfect for all the pens, point turners, and other stuff I take with me to retreat. I now have a half of a hot pink zipper, that I will have to play with.

Gabby Progress

There have been a few breaks from the heat in the last week, so I am finally making some progress on my Gabby Bag. This was the April pattern for the Bag of the Month Club, and I am liking the pattern a lot.

I now have the base of the exterior, and the complete lining finished.

You can get a sense from this what the finished bag will look like.

This is the side view of the base. I am using Lazy Girl Stiff Stuff as the stabilizer and I think it is working very nicely.

I have turned the lining to the pretty side. The top of the exterior will also be black. These little cats were dying to be part of the bag, so they became the slip pocket.

The interior zippered pocket is made from the exterior fabric. I used the tutorial from Patty Cucman on the Emmaline Bags Blog. The pocket turned out nice and tidy with the zipper tape fully enclosed by fabric.  I'm glad I tried it.

I have an exterior zippered pocket and the top to add, plus the handle. With luck, it will be finished tomorrow.

Yesterday, I spent a lovely day sewing with a young friend and her grandmother. We made Sweetpea Pods.

Theirs were in pretty floral prints. I am always the wild one, with my bright yellow and dots. I think this might make a nice accessory for the Gabby Bag.

I am linking to WIP Wednesday at the Needle and Thread Network.

Still Ad Free

I started my blog in 2012, to share my love of arts and socks, and show a few things that are happening in my life. Over the last 4 years, I have enjoyed sharing my pictures with others, creating a couple of knitting patterns, and meeting people from all over the world, through the comments.

I also enjoy reading other peoples' blogs. I always learn something, either about art or about the blogger. Recently I came across a blog, full of good ideas, advice and lovely projects. Sadly, the blog was also so stuffed with ads that I couldn't read it. It kept crashing my browser.

I understand that a blogger might like to receive a bit of money to finance their fabric and supplies, and I applaud bloggers who have a big enough following to make it pay, but there were just so many ads on this blog, that it was almost impossible to find the content. Ads were between every couple of paragraphs.

So, I will be keeping my blog ad free. I don't want the ads to detract from the content. I will also not be returning to the ad-heavy blog. I will continue to visit blogs that have ads, as long as they are static ads, not ones with moving pictures.

Meanwhile, in my ad free world, I have 3 new visitors.

They are 6 week old boys, and I think they have cornered the cuteness market! No names yet. They will come to us.

I started a new shawl, this week, because I don't have enough knitting projects on the go.

This one is called Gondola, and it is a free Knit Along until the end of August.

It is a small shawl, I expect it will make a nice fall scarf. there will be beads in the border. I think I will use silver lined clear ones.

I was also asked to make another Princess Charlotte bonnet.

I need to get this finished, because I think it is wanted for a baby shower, later this week.