When I read about these Baggu bags on Not Martha's blog, I wanted to try them out for myself. I've been wanting to buy a set of reusable bags for quite some time, and the fact that I could pick from such a wide range of colors really sealed it for me. Plus, I got a fun storage sack, too!
They really can hold 2-3 times what a regular plastic bag would, and didn't even snap a thread when I stuffed 2 2L pops (I know, hcfs sucks - that's for another day!) plus 51L bottles of water in one bag! I'm seriously impressed, they hold up superbly, look great; and I thought it was pretty easy to fold them back up to put them in in their boxy pouches.All in all, I have to give these a glowing review. Except for the fact that the bagger looked at me like I was crazy for having such large reusables; I just thought to myself," if you put things in, in the right way - they stand up on their own just fine!"
When I decided that Stargazer wasn't the project to bring with on my vacation, I thought that finishing something that had lain languishing might make me feel good. Boy, I had no idea how good! Even though I'd only let it sit about a month, it was great to get back to work on a reusable shopping bag, especially since I'm sure to do some shopping in Hawaii! (This is the Everlasting Bagstopper from this summer's Knitty.)
I worked the lace pattern to 12" unstretched instead of 10", and only did 7 rows of garter in the round at the top before binding off. I decided to use an I-cord handle, but wanted it to hold the bag a bit more balanced - in case I want to carry anything larger - so I split it for the 3" closest to the bag. The total strap length is 20" - long enough to put over my shoulder, but short enough so it won't drag on the ground if I carry it in hand. 
It folds up neatly, and the handle is the perfect length to keep it that way. I'm pretty happy with the finished look, but I hope I don't have any problems with yarn tails poking out. Splicing the second ball of hemp in was the toughest join ever; normally I like to use a Russian join, but it didn't come out looking nearly as neat & clean here as it normally does. Oh, well… I'm off to Hawaii tomorrow! :D
I just found the greatest show on the Travel channel yesterday, called Hidden Markets with Marisa Tomei. She travels to different cities, and visits local markets finding all sorts of wonderful treasures. I must confess, this show speaks to my greatest loves - travel and shopping! I wish I had found more souvenirs to pick up on my honeymoon in Europe, we went through several markets in Barcelona, Marbella and Nice. We also went to this wonderful medieval village in southern France, called Èze; but the shop owners were so frigid! I tried to give my best Bon Jour, but was barely greeted most places. Eh, the other market people were very friendly and forgiving of my lack of French and Spanish.I'm really looking forward to shopping some local markets on my upcoming trip to Hawaii. I'll be hitting Maui, Kailua Kona, Hilo and Honolulu and although I am interested in doing some of the standard tourist stuff, I would love to get a chance to see the local crafts in person - like quilting! As well as local markets, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be really grateful! I'm also hoping to find some local yarn or fabric - anything crafty, really!
When I first saw this bag in the Boden's catalog, I really liked it. I wanted to get a project bag to go to Stitches with, and it was going to take 2 weeks to get here from the UK. So I went shopping, and didn't really find anything I liked. It's fall, and I didn't see any interesting colors. Only one turquoise bag, and I didn't care for the trim. (I did find a gorgeous t-shirt at J. crew though, violet with a velvet griffon on it - love it!)
Anyway, after the fruitless shopping trip I decided to look over the catalog again, and I just couldn't get over the Squashy bag. Vibrant colors, supple butter-soft leather and tons of room on the inside made this the perfect knitting project bag for me. I ordered it Friday, by Sunday it was backordered, and I had it by the following Saturday (with free shipping, to boot!) I'd highly recommend Boden's, I found them through Alicia's blog; and I know I'll be ordering more from them. It's UK sizing, so I'm a little scared of screwing up pants sizing; but they have the most gorgeous clothing. Elegant and classic, but trendy too, just not in an immature way - just what I'm looking for.
*Special thoughts go out to Alicia, who's dog unexpectedly passed away this week. Audrey was such a sweet girl, even though I never met her. We in blogland will miss her terribly, though not nearly as much as Alicia and Andy. My thoughts are with you two during these tough times.
I started this last week so I'd have an easy project to work on while I was at Stitches with my Mom & sister. And then, I got sick Friday morning, the day I was supposed to go. Ugh, I had even reigned in the yarn spending when I hit Wool & co a few weeks ago (for the first time! Love it!) Oy, ok - so anyway, I had an easy project to work on while I wasn't feeling so good.
This is one of the suprises from the summer Knitty, and even though it's so similar to my Montego Bay scarf, (by the same author too!) I really like it. The yarn's not nearly as soft (hemp on this project, bamboo on the scarf,) but I think it might get softer after a wash. Even if it doesn't, I could always make the handles out of something softer; I haven't really thought about them, or the drawstring yet.
The color is probably better in the second picture than the first, but it seemed so dark that I lightened it up a bit. Normally, I'd want to go back and fix it, but I've got better things to do today! LOL
Although I'm very creative and can come up with lots of things to make on my own; my favorite kind of craft lately is taking an item that might be a little bland, and making it perfect for me and my needs. I call it perfunctional crafting, because I love making things both more personal and functional at the same time. LOL This is my entry in June's Whiplash - Introduce Yourself.
When I first got this bag (for Christmas from my husband,) I thought it looked a little plain. The color was really nice, but it was just a plain solid. It has a bit of texture with a diagonal weave, but other than that - a little vanilla on the outside. Nothing really wrong, just not quite "me" yet. LOL Then, I spotted it on Craft Daisies, with some upgrades! And I knew I had to make mine really "mine!"I had the fabric for a few months, for another home dec project, and had tons leftover. It's not a quite a barkcloth, but still a very stiff fabric. Not necessarily great for bulgy items, but perfect for patterns - they've never sat correctly inside the bag, 
with my knitting & yarn. Voila! Perfect pattern pocket for my knitting bag! LOL I sewed up the open side first, and then used fusible tape to attach it to the bag. I'm lucky it opens tightly, otherwise I would've had to hand sew the pocket into place. Blegh! (Can you tell how I feel about hand sewing? LOL) Even still, fusing the pocket down was a little tricky, and I managed to scorch the fabric slightly. Good thing it's a beige background with darker beige and mocha accents, it's not terribly noticeable. 
At first, I couldn't decide what to do with the second side. The more I thought about it, though - I didn't want to clash with the print of the mod fabric. But I still wanted something really unique, jazzy & cool. I think I managed to pull those off, carrying the print up behind the second pocket, in only one repeat. Trying to explain it to my husband was a little tricky, and I didn't even really know what it would look like before I cut the piece out & pinned it in place. I was very pleased when I did though, because it turns out I like it even more than I thought I would! LOL
My sister gave me this lovely little bag last year, the Best Friend bag from Knitty - in aqua cashmere!!! I knew I needed to add handles, though; I was too afraid of leaving it in some restaurant, or on a checkout counter somewhere. So, I asked if I could trade her for the rest of the yarn, so I could make handles. (Jenn, I don't think I ever gave you anything for this, lemme know if you have any ideas!)
I let it sit for a few months, it wasn't very high on my priority list, and I'd never done I-cords before. I only realized this after editing my Ravelry profile, that I've been knitting for 4 years, without trying such a basic technique. It sort of bothered me, so I put a few other things aside for an evening, and knit up a pair of 9" I-cords (5 sts on sz2 needles.) Turns out, they're easy peasy! I should've figured, but I'm a fairly shy knitter. I'm trying to remedy that, though! I did my first short rows on the Blue Sky Alpacas Pleated Skirt I'm working on (watch for more details on Wednesday!) Anyhoo, I used the tail ends to sew jump rings onto the ends, and then threaded them up through the I-cord itself. When I moved both ends to the middle, I knotted them and stretched the handles slightly, to draw the knotted ends up into the I-cord. I wanted the handles to be sturdy, and not stretch too much when I wanted to carry heavier items like my camera or sunglasses. I'm very pleased with the results, I feel like they won't stretch unless the knots pull out - and I took my Mom's advice and tied my knots in the opposite direction of one another. Did you know if you tie them the same they can pull out, easy as punch?!?! Thanks, Mom! It's an awesome tip to learn & know!!! Thanks also to Jenn, who's one of the most talented knitters I know!
I finally got some time to work on my sister's belated Christmas present - the Amy Butler Patchwork Bag. At first I was hoping the book would have pattern pieces for this bag, but upon closer inspection the only pattern piece provided was for the zipper pull charm (which is just 2 circles, folks! LOL) The bag itself is all right angles, so I'm left to measure out all of my rectangles. It isn't too tough, but the AB pattern pieces are on nice paper, instead of tissue paper; and I was hoping to get the chance to work with a non-tissue pattern. (Tissue's really not that bad, but it can be tricky!)
I must also add, that I purchased a clear quilting ruler for this project, and boy, I couldn't be MORE pleased with it. It seemed expensive, at 12$ for a 4 1/2" by 12 1/2" clear ruler, but with all of the markings it has on it, and how well it works with my cutting mat, it saved me tons of time cutting & scoring packaging for The Sampler. If you don't have a quilting ruler, I'd HIGHLY recommend it! It's going to make cutting 1" squares for tsumami kanzashi flowers even easier and more precise than with my cork-backed steel ruler. And, more precise squares of fabric mean they're easier to fold into each petal, and less hassle to handle & sew together. Hooray!I'm also happy to announce that I'll be adding patchwork bags to my Etsy store soon, of course with tsumami kanzashi flowers on them! I really like making bags, I think it's so much more fun to carry something unique, rather than something there's 18,000 of out there!
For Christmas last year, I told my sister that I'd like to make her a bag. I made one for my Mom, and thought she might like a handmade one as well. I let her pick what she wanted, and it turned out that she picked the Patchwork bag in the back of Amy Butler's book, In Stitches. Needless to say, we both procrastinated on picking out fabrics, because I just bought these last Thursday with her! LOL
I'm really pleased with our selections, even though blue & red isn't my favorite color palette (20 bonus points for whoever can guess what my favorite color palette is! LOL) We started with the Asian girls, and built the others around it, and I'm hoping it will look very nice patched together and quilted.
Now, I just have to decide what pattern I'm going to piece the side panels together with (I'm thinking maybe log cabins,) and the pattern & spacing of the quilting lines! All of the fabrics are cotton quilting, and so I picked up some thick Peltex interfacing to give the finished bag a stiffer shape. The pattern calls for heavyweight upholstery fabrics, but I think the cotton will quilt better, and it's definitely easier to work with!
On another note, I'd love to hear where you buy fabric - especially for Japanese prints! I prefer to buy in person, in a store; but I live pretty far outside Chicago, so trips downtown are usually just a couple times a year. Internet shopping is certainly more convienent, but it can be tricky (somtimes impossible!) to match colors or coordinate prints. My favorite online fabric stores are - Fashion Fabrics Club, Fabric Tales and Reprot Depot, I also love Vogue Fabric (they have an online store too!)
Ok, so I'm more than a year behind everyone else on this, but when I saw the tutorial on Autum's blog, Creative Little Daisy, I knew I had to make one myself. This was actually a belated Christmas present for my Mother, who is understanding enough to not make me feel too bad about it's timing. I found the ribbon on the handle first, and just loved the combo of pink, purple and orange. Then I found the purple minky fabric, and knew what I was going to turn it all into.
Well as it turns out, the minky doesn't quilt well, so I decided to leave those panels blank. Originally, I was planning on alternating the quilting thread color on each panel, but when I decided to leave the purple blank, I knew that would be the right choice for the quilting. I also decided mid-project to add cording between the outer body and the lining, although I kept it very petite. 
The orange stretch twill I used came from a remnant, and it had "Sample" marks all over it, so I didn't have enough to do the lining out of it. It worked well for the cording, and I used more of the pink stretch twill for the lining. It was a little thick, but I used a scrap of the purple minky for a gathered patch pocket, and so I think it all worked out well. I'm meeting my Mom for lunch on Thursday, and I hope she likes it!
The handle is 1" nylon webbing with minky fabric over it, and ribbon sewn on top. I was worried my machine might not sew through the webbing, but I actually had more problems with the final top-stitching at the side seams than anything else. I sewed the magnestic closures and the tops of the pocket to the lining for extra strength (by hand.) If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
