I need motivation

I haven't had much motivation to sew lately, and honestly it sucks.  It's not that I don't want to, it's just that...well, there are 100 other things I know I should be doing instead.  And now I have all these projects that I want & need to work on, so I don't even know where to start.  What I really need is something quick & easy to get me back into the swing of things.

I think this weekend I'm going to sit down with all my Keyka Lou patterns, and pick out one to make that I haven't made yet.  It's kind of sad, really, I have almost all her patterns, but so many that I haven't had a chance to make yet.  And there's no excuse!

Did you see Michelle from Keyka Lou even has a new pattern out this week?  Her Padded Camera Pouch looks like yet another perfect little pouch.  And like most times when Michelle releases a new pattern, she's offering 20% off all patterns right now!  You'll have to hurry, the discount is only good through this Friday, March 23, but use code camerapouch for 20% off any pattern.

 

I love that so many of Michelle's patterns come in multiple sizes.  A few times I've wanted an in-between size & can adjust it on a copy machine, but it's great that she already does most of that work for you on so many of her patterns.

Pleated Pouches

So what should I make next?  Maybe I'll just decide right now so I can't keep putting it off!  Here are the patterns I have that I haven't made yet, let me know what you think!

Zip Pocket Pouch

 

Strap Clutch

 

Ditty Bags

Pleated Pouches

Curvy Clutch

Fold-Over Clutch

 

I told you it was ridiculous how many patterns I own but haven't used yet, and I didn't even include the purses since I really don't need one of those right now.  I think I'm leaning towards the Strap Clutch since it's something I can throw in the diaper bag with my stuff, or use as a small diaper clutch if I don't want to carry the whole thing.  Plus, since my diaper bag is starting to rip (Again!  I've already replaced it once), I think I'm going to make myself one this time, and this way I can make something to match it.  I haven't decided on a pattern for that yet either, or if I'll just wing it on my own, but one step at a time! 

So tell me, what do you think I should make next?  Don't forget you can use code camerapouch to save 20% if you want to make something of your own.

Until next time...

all photos courtesy of Keyka Lou 

Keyka Lou holiday sale

Oh boy, oh boy! I shared a little secret with you this spring about Keyka Lou patterns, and I've got to tell you - my feelings haven't changed! I absolutely adore Michelle's patterns! Her instructions are fantastic, and perfect for beginners or those of you who may not be a beginner, but haven't sewn bags before.

Michelle is having an awesome sale and all her patterns are only $5 each. Five dollars!

My favorite new pattern are the Zip Pocket Pouches. Of course I had to get the pattern as soon as it came out (is it possible to be addicted to patterns?!), and I can't wait to make a few for Christmas gifts.

Another new pattern is the Strap Clutch, a few of which showed up in the recent Pretty Little Pouch Swaps & make me want to make this even more.

I'm planning to use the Pleated Pouch pattern to add a fun pocket to the outside of a clutch I'm designing for one of my Christmas gifts. I can't tell you how excited about this & can't wait until I'm able to share it with you.

And of course there's the adorable little Dumpling which is available for free!

What are you waiting for? Head over & stock up on some great patterns!

Until next time...

all photos courtesy of Keyka Lou

Just a little something...

Here's a little something I put together over the course of a few naps this afternoon. There are probably 100 other things I should have been doing, but it was really nice to just sit & sew for a while.

I used this free pattern from Keyka Lou - the Dumpling Zip Pouch.

Isn't it cute?! It's relatively easy, and I can definitely see more of these in my future.

I'm not 100% sure how true to size it is compared to the pattern because we have no ink in our printer, so I traced the pattern from my netbook screen. I love that there is only one pattern piece, and only four pieces to cut out (including the interfacing)! If you used a decor weight fabric, you could probably skip a piece of interfacing.

Until next time...

WIP Wednesday #13

Lucky #13, huh? I've had a pretty good (and productive) week, so I say yes!

Need to start: A Christmas present (for last year), the May String Me Along block, and a crochet blanket. I'm also thinking about getting a head start on next month's sew along project, but we'll see about that.

Started: Two Keyka Lou basic wallets. These have been on my list for way too long. In fact, I looked back at the last to-do list on my bulletin board, and my self-imposed due date for these was October 31. I'm pretty sure that was pushed back from the beginning of October as well, so it's about time I got working on them.

These are actually pretty quick & easy to put together, without much cutting or fusing, so I'm not even sure why I put them off for so long. Just one of those things, I suppose!

I also spent last night sorting all my I-spy squares into groups by the alphabet. I've decided I'd like to do a wall hanging/play mat/blanket/something-or-other for Goose using them. I was thinking I'd like to use the pieces to make the letters of the alphabet, but then got to thinking maybe I'll use them for the background & do the letters from solids. I'm not sure yet, so it's still very much a work in progress. I'm not in a huge hurry to get it done, but it was something I got in my head, and it was nice to sit in the nice, cool basement for an hour & sort through all those squares.

Obviously I'm missing a few letters! Any ideas for J, N, Q, X, Y, and Z? I'm thinking I could use solid yellow for the Ys & a zebra print for the Zs (I'm hoping to do capital & lower-case letters). We'll see how (if) it all comes together.

In Progress: Goose's postage stamp quilt! That's right, it's back off the "on hold" list. I got the rest of the pairs sewn together and 2/3 of them pressed & pinned together to start my blocks. I estimated at one point that I would be able to make 42 blocks (remember, mine are 5x6 instead of 5x5), and I ended up with 41 blocks & six strips of 3 solid/2 pattern left over. So essentially exactly enough for 42 blocks, although I'm not sure how I ended up with extra of just the one kind. Unfortunately, that doesn't even leave me with enough of the right squares to unpick & resew them, so I'll have to work them in to the back or something. Of course, that also means I can't do my quilt 6 blocks by 7 blocks, so I'm not sure what I'll do yet. I guess I can make it one row less & work the extra blocks into the back. I'll figure something out!

Completed: I was able to finish up the fire pit cover this weekend, I ended up going the "belt loop" route. I liked the idea of doing grommets, and may end up switching to them at some point, but this works for now.

The drawstring doesn't slide through the loops as easily as I would have liked, which makes it kind of a pain to tie since it has to gather around the edge of the fire pit. It does its job for now though, so we'll see how it holds up to the storms & sun this summer.

I also finished up both Keyka Lou basic wallets in just a couple hours. It would have been much less, but I screwed up at the very end of the first one. I was putting in the magnetic snap (I very much prefer it to Velcro) & when I checked the placement after putting it in, I thought it opened kind of funny. It was lined up perfectly (lots of trial & error on placement over the past year!), but the pieces didn't pull apart as easily as I remembered. I figured it was fine, and went on my merry way sewing up the opening & top stitching the flap (using my new favorite double top stitching). It looked as close to perfect as I was going to get it!

As I was getting ready to put in the first half of the snap on the second wallet, I grabbed the reinforcement washer to mark the slots when I realized I hadn't gotten out a second snap yet, and really shouldn't have another washer on my sewing table. That's when I realized why the first one felt off when I was opening it, I didn't put in the washer! ARGH! I went back & forth about ripping out the (double, of course!) top stitching & adding the washer or just starting over from scratch. In the ended I opted for ripping out the stitching & salvaging the original, but it was still pretty frustrating. In the end, it worked out alright, but it made for a frustrating day!

Inside

Back

Holy cow, I almost forgot my biggest completion of the week! I got the Perfectly Pleated Clutch finished up! It only took staying up until midnight last Wednesday. :)

On Hold: The last two Origami Bags. It actually crossed my mind to do them quick this weekend rather than the wallets, but since the wallets are for somebody who probably thinks I've completely forgotten about them, I decided they were a higher priority. And I can't work on anything but Goose's quilt right now since every single pin I own is in use. I guess that's one way to make myself work on something! :)

Head over to Freshly Pieced to see what everybody else has been up to.

Until next time...

I have a secret...

I've got a little secret for you. You may not have guessed this, but I absolutely love Keyka Lou patterns! What, you already knew that?! I can't get anything by you guys. :)

But seriously, if you've been around a while, you know that I couldn't say anything better about Keyka Lou patterns. Michelle has some of the best instructions (tutorial-style, my favorite!) with lots of great pictures. She also has some of the best "why didn't I think of that?!" sewing tips.

Unfortunately I haven't had much time (or made the time, is more like it) lately to work on any of the many Keyka Lou patterns I have but haven't had a chance to make yet. It's like I'm addicted to them, I have to get all the new ones as soon as they come out. I haven't picked up her newest pattern for the Ditty Bag yet, but you'd better believe it's on my list!

Photo from Keyka Lou

So what does any of this have to do with you? Well, if you're a fan of Keyka Lou patterns or would like to see what the fuss is all about, now is the time to stock up! Well, most of April, to be exact, since it's her Anniversary Sale! Now through April 20, all patterns are only $5. That's right, five bucks for some amazing patterns. Go now, check them out & stock up. You won't be sorry you did!

Some of my favorites?

Lots of Pockets

Photo from Keyka Lou

City Tote

Photo from Keyka Lou

Small Satchel

Photo from Keyka Lou

Until next time...

Wizard of Oz Mabel Bag

Here's the one big project I worked on for Christmas, and have been anxiously waiting to share, especially for Amy's Sew & Tell now that it's back from "Christmas break." I've also been kind of slacking since I actually gave this away on Christmas, and haven't gotten around to sharing it with you all before now.

This pattern is the Mabel bag from Jenna Lou Designs. I love this pattern! It's a great size for a messenger bag, and could easily be used as a laptop bag with some padding or a padded laptop sleeve. It uses Peltex interfacing, so it's nice & sturdy.

I did a disappearing nine patch for the main outer fabric made from 12 different Wizard of Oz fabrics I found at a local quilt shop.

My favorite of the prints is this "Surrender Dorothy." Also, it's difficult to see, but I did the "quilting" (not exactly, since there's no batting) with metallic red stitching.

The pattern calls for a zipper pocket on the inside, but because I only had just enough fabric left and hadn't ever tackled it before, I decided to play it safe with a simple slip pocket. I did add a strap with a clip for keys, or this little pouch.

The pouch is made from the Keyka Lou keychain clutch pattern, but I increased the pattern size 115%. It's now big enough to hold an ipod touch (or iphone). The original pattern size is nice & small, but wouldn't hold anything but a small phone or some change.

The strap is adjustable with metal hardware, and is made from alternating size pieces of the yellow bring road & ruby red slipper fabrics.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with how this turned out. It was relatively simple to make, and if I hadn't decided to do the patchwork, it could have easily been made in a weekend instead of over about a month's time. One thing that was difficult though was the Peltex lining made it a bit clunky to maneuver, especially around the curve in the top. Also, because it's so thick, I had to hand-sew the strap reinforcement & wasn't able to topstitch around the opening, which I usually prefer. It doesn't look terrible without the top stitching, but it's a finishing touch I always like to add.

Until next time...

Sew & Tell: More Keyka Lou City Totes

I found Sew & Tell over at Amylouwho (she's the one with the awesome bunting quilt block!) a few weeks ago now, but haven't been able to get anything finished up to share. And when she announced last week that Sew & Tell will be taking a holiday break, I was bummed because I wouldn't be able to share anything until after the first of the year. Of course, the majority of my projects right now are gift-related & can't be shared anyways, but I was bummed all the same.

I've had pieces cut out for this new City Tote for a couple weeks now, but haven't been able to find much time to sew, so I was pretty happy to get some work done on it when we got home from our Thanksgiving trip Sunday night. I was even happier when I was able to get it finished up!

It's hard to get decent pictures when I'm never home in daylight hours during the week, so please excuse the picture quality. :)

The outside of this one is made with corduroy & is super soft. I absolutely love it.

I didn't want to use the cord on the inside, so I used this fun fabric instead. I know it's not exactly matchy-matchy, but it looks pretty darn cute. The flower shape are similar to those on the outside & the blues match, so it pulls it together pretty well. I also use this fabric on the underside of the strap (you can kind of see it in the top picture) so it doesn't hang all wonky when carried.

Here's a better shot of all three fabrics. I promise the browns match better than what it looks like here.

And here's another City Tote that's been done for a couple weeks, but I wanted to share quick as well.

My friend is a huge Kansas City Chiefs fan, so she absolutely loves the inside of the purse (inside of the outside pocket is Chiefs too). The day she got it, she had to show everyone in the office the inside of her purse. It was so funny, the Chiefs had just had a pretty bad loss the day before, so one of the ladies asked if it was on the inside because she was ashamed of the Chiefs.

Head on over to Amylouwho to check out the rest of the Sew & Tell items!

(Oh, and a quick update on the hand warmers - I'm about 1/2 inch from the thumb hole on the first one, so it's 7.5 inches long! Woo-hoo! I promise I'll try to get a picture of it this weekend to share.)

Until next time...