Another challenge!

To be honest, I’m not sure who to blame for this one. I think it was Bec, in conjunction with Car (c’mon, like THAT surprises anyone). Apparently a few of us thought we wanted a new bag, and so the EQ Bag Challenge/Sewalong was born. No deadlines or rules – just make a bag and encourage each other along. And that seemed easy enough, so being the challenge tart sociable type, I joined in, since I have been wanting to make a bag for Bear to take to drama lessons.

 

His lessons are directly after school, so he needs to take some afternoon tea, and sometimes has scripts and stuff that need to go back and forth, so I thought a dedicated little bag might be the go. Last week I got the chance to sit down and sketch out the design I’d come up with.

 

A simple little messenger style bag – the main pocket to hold a drink bottle and small container of afternoon tea, a separate flat pocket to hold scripts, a little zip pocket to pop his fees in (it’s a pay-by-the-week system), and then an appliqued flap to hold everything in. So I have the design, I have the measurements, the cutting guide and assembly guide all prepared, now just to raid the stash, and get stuck in!

nice try.

Like the toyroom, the boy’s bedroom can be a bit of disaster area. Despite having a perfectly adequate area to play, they love to drag their toys into their bedroom to play. And leave them there. They love to read a book before bed. Which falls to the floor, and gets left there. Drawers get emptied in search of the perfect top (seriously, boys, you are not teenage girls. Just pick a darn t-shirt), the discarded clothes on the ground. And left there. And of course, jammies, that get taken off upstairs next to the heater, when asked to be taken back and PUT ON YOUR BED PLEASE BOYS, get chucked on the ground, generally just far enough inside the door to say they are in the bedroom. And left there.

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So, I thought, I ‘ll make some jammie bags. We’ll pop them on the end of their beds, and at least their jammies have somewhere to live. No excuses, right? Yeah. Well. Guess what now lives on the floor NEXT to the pyjamas it was supposed to storing?

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It’s Friday, and of course we are crazy busy trying to get organised for the weekend. I’m hoping to do some quilting this weekend, Boy2 wants an extra quilt for his bed, and the weather is FREEZING at the minute, so that’s top of the list. I might try and scam half hour in the sun with my ripple blanket I’m slowly hooking through. And I want to style a shoot and blog some photos of my very exciting new fabric collection!! I can not WAIT to show you this, it’s been a fun project, and a wonderful collaboration, so hopefully Monday on that one. I want to write, Lauren & Paul’s story is hovering at the edge of my mind, so I might try and squeeze that in too somewhere. A spot of entertaining, some games and quality time with the smalls, and all too soon it will be Monday again! But let’s not wish it away, it’s Friday, two whole days lay before us, and to make them count, I need to make today count. Computer is closing in three, two, one….

the dragonfly

I posted a little while ago about a custom Butterfly Overnighter, ordered by a friend after seeing the one I designed and made for my Butterfly. That one was as a gift, to be used as a mummy/nappy bag, and that same friend also ordered an overnighter for her two little boys. I didn’t want to go all ruffly like the other two bags, as that seemed a bit girly to me, but one thing she liked about the bags, was she thought the ruffles were pockets, which inspired this design. I used a fabric that is one of my favourites for little boys, and added a couple of patches in co-ordinating fabrics, so there are the two patch pockets, plus four pockets where the top stitching goes all the way to the top of the blue fabric (the other side is the same). It’s lined in the blue as well, and all in all, I’m very happy with it. It seemed wrong to label it as a Butterfly bag though, hence the title – the Dragonfly! (and as a little aside, I might be making one of these for a market night coming up in a couple of weeks, oh what fun I’ll have shopping for those fabrics! What craft ban?)

 

Today has been crazy busy, trying to catch up from being unwell, though I managed to sneak in a small amount of crafting – a few stitches on my embroidery project, a pyjama bag for one boy with the other patiently awaiting his, as well as casting on/chaining on 280+3 chains for a crochet ripple blanket! Thankfully everyone seems to be on the mend today, though of course there are a stack of jobs I’ve let slide that I now need to get reined in again. My husband is going out tonight to a meeting, so I’m hoping to rush through my chores and squeeze in some more rippling time while he’s away. And I realy REALLY have to finish my studio, my dad is working hard on my new cabinet, so I need to be ready for that. But sometimes it’s just all too hard. And on a Monday too. Anyone want to come do it for me? No? Bummer. Ok, in I go. Wish me lukc!

fly little butterfly

 

I gleefully posted up a photo on Facebook, of Butterfly’s vintage-bowling-ball-inspired overnighter that I designed/made, as I do with most things I make. And my notifications EXPLODED. Including a note from a friend – “So cute. I’ll order one in blue and one in green”. O.M.G. “Are you for real?” I asked, as in, wow, someone thinks they are worth buying? But of course, with the joy of the internet, my words were somewhat ambiguous, and she thought I was suggesting she was rude for even asking. We soon sorted that out though, and we worked out some details, and I got cracking. The green one was to be a mummy/nappy bag, and so I stared at my fabric collection, and tried to work out what I had that might fit the vision in my mind, or did I need to buy something? Then my eye fell on some Amy Butler, languishing at the bottom of a pile. I had ordered it for the quilts I made the boys, but what I thought was orange was indeed a peachy-rose colour, and not suitable, and so it got tucked away as I wondered what to do with it. Not really a quilters weight fabric, and truth be told, not really my style. But for this bag, it would be perfect. And for a fabric I wasn’t particularly enamoured of to start with, I LOVE it used like this. It just goes to show – every fabric has the perfect project to be matched to! I lengthened the straps from the first version, so it can be used over-the-shoulder. I also lined this one, and added an inside zip pocket for all those essentials that mummies need.

{please excuse the unstyled photos, I am lacking seriously in time, and I promised a sneak peek about three days ago!}

 

My to-do list is withering in the face of my latest onslaught, so hopefully I’ll be back to regular blogging next week. But for now, my sewing machine calls. The second bag. A lunch wrap custom order. A pencil roll custom order. A painting I need to finish, and a flash fiction to write. A cake to decorate. Bigger than Ben Hur, this cake is becoming. And of course, get prepped for Bloggers Boogie tomorrow night. Hip hip hooray, the weekend is here!

adding some twinkle.

 

At Bible Study a couple of weeks back, we were talking about gifts, and attitudes, and service with a glad heart. One mum mentioned a conversation with her boy (who is one of the wisest little chaps I know), along similar lines, of people who willingly and cheerfully serve, and show love by acts of service. Not for kudos or accolades or recognition of their efforts, but simply for the love of helping others, and making some else’s day a little bit brighter. “Mum, I’ve noticed something”, the story went, “some people, they’ve got TWINKLE”. And we decided that was the perfect term for the kind of people we’d been talking about. I felt challenged, by one word from an eleven-year-old boy. I want to live a life full of twinkle. I want to sparkle and shine and be more loving to those around me. (Just don’t do a spot check 15 minutes before the school run, k?). “That’s awesome,” I said, “I love that idea. I want to make T’s twinkle list.” And so I vowed to live “twinkly”. And then she stopped me. “You rated a mention”. Me? Huh? I’m not twinkly. I’m selfish and prone to a bout of the grumps. Or three. I can be slack at keeping in touch with friends. I try and fail in a hundred different ways to life a life worthy of the path I’ve been called to. How could I be considered twinkly? “The bags”.

 

I haven’t blogged them yet. and by the time this conversation occured, I’d kind of forgotten about them. Mr Wise’s littlest sister has been very unwell, and housebound. Which also means a housebound mama. So when I prepared to drop off some movies I’d promised a loan of, I was hit with the memory of being not much older than her, and swapping little goody bags with a friend. Nothing fancy. A piece of gum. Some stickers. A little party favour or two. Just little knick knack things in a handsewn bag, just to say “I like you”. But I still remember the kick I got being on the receiving end of a goodie bag, and the fun of exploring the contents. Surely small girls haven’t changed that much in, cough, er, um, a long time… And so with the two smallest people in tow, I did a mercy dash to the shops, loaded up on “bits” and with the help of a lonesome fat quarter, and some cute ribbon, I whizzed up a pair of little goodie bags. A small one with textas, stickers, art diary, beads, and lollipop for Miss Sick. And in the larger, a couple of magazines, some choccies, and a box of tea bags for a mama likely climbing the walls. Nothing too exciting. Just a  few bits and bobs, to say “I’m thinking of you”, and like the original bags, “I like you”. To me it wasn’t that big of a deal. 10 minutes at the machine, a few dollars at the shops, and it might help reduce cabin fever. But it was enough to stick in his mind. A bit of twinkle.

 

Maybe, just maybe, I might be able to get a handle on this twinkling gig.

Thomas goes on holiday

A large parcel is placed in front of an eager little boy. “Cri-mits present for me?” Bear pleads. We assure him that the gift is indeed for him, and within seconds, the floor is littered with Christmas paper, rapidly torn from the gift and discarded. His big brown eyes light up with pleasure, and he squeals with delight, “Look, mummy, it’s THOMAS!”

Our boys love Thomas, with a passion most sane people reserve for, say, spouses. One of Chubba Bubba’s first words was “toot-toot”. So to say the gift was a hit would be a slight understatement. The set was actually a “Take-Along” set, whereas the more discerning Thomas fans at our house prefer the delicious, tactile warmth of the timber sets. Not to say it was a *bad* gift, on the contrary. Running Bear and I looked at each other, smiling over the heads of our two little boys now lost in play, and almost in the same breath, “It’ll be perfect to take on holidays” (him) “I’ll make a little bag for it all so we can take it away with us” (me). So, shortly after arriving home, and managing to prise the now-beloved set from small hands, I pulled out my stash of Thomas fabric (yes, I have Thomas fabric on stand-by. Sad, I know), and pulled together a little portfolio-style carry bag for the new track, engines & associated “stuff”. I will admit, my “wing it” approach wasn’t *entirely* successful this time. The velcro doesn’t quite do up where I failed to allow for “expandage” due to the addition of the track pieces. Some elastic is too snug, while others are not quite snug enough. Eh, you live and learn.

Today has been perfection. The house is clean. The washing is up to date. We built a cubby house in the lounge room. Read stories, had fruit break, peiced a puzzle, all under the “shelter” of said cubby house. We’ve swung, slippery-dipped and sandpitted our way through the morning. And two little boys crashed shortly after their lunch, leaving a satisfied mama to sneak into the studio. And sew. Another quilt, nonetheless. The third is as many weeks! A log cabin change mat, from bargello scraps. Two blocks down, Two to go. The race is on. Quilt done. Naptime finished. Let’s do this!

To market, to market…

but first, I’ll need a bag! More than once, I’ve had my basket/pram/toddler laden with items at the hops, only to come to the checkout to find that store has gone “bagless”. No biggie, one of the benefits of a tandem pram is oodles of room. But, thinking of my mum & sister, not every has an excessively large pram with which to transport their latest sacrifice to the gods of conspicuous consumption. And so, with a tenuous link, and not a small amount of looking for a sewing project, I decided to make them each a shopping bag (tutorial here).

 

And to make life easy, it folds up on itself so it fits in a handbag

 

SO today is all about finishing unfinished things. A bag for my sister. A Thomas quilt for the toddler. Some flowers to embellish some crochet mittens. Some paperwork for year end, five hundred loads of washing, and plenty of fun. I’m rockin’ this Monday – let’s do this!