Tag Archives: drawstring bag

Mar2

February blog/vlog wrap-up

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February blog/vlog wrap-up

Hi all. I’m back for a roundup of what happened in February. 

The main thing we’ve been dealing with in our household is my husband’s cancer journey. We are SO close to being at the end of the 7 weeks of treatment. He only has two more radiation zaps to go. He had weekly chemo, which was relatively easy compared to the radiation. He’s feeling pretty low now, and struggling to even drink the meal replacement liquid. The main cause of the pain in his mouth is actually the oral surgery he was told he had to have before his treatment started (to remove a wisdom tooth), so I’m assuming that the hole in his mouth is there because it didn’t get to heal properly before the stitches dissolved. 

Happier news now! My YouTube channel reached 500 subscribers and I had a giveaway to win a small zippered bag. The winner has received her prize. And my little vlog benefited from a few more subscribers! 

I have continued to make many more vlog episodes and tutorials for Stitches and Slapdashery. I even have business cards now, because I’ve been sewing up a storm for the farmers and crafters market in the summer (which I have applied for and it starts in May). 

I’ll add a gallery of some photos of what I’ve been making below. I have also been enjoying my yarn crafts. Current Works in Progress are a pair of granny square pants (trousers) for which I am crocheting 56 squares (excited to see how those turn out) and a scarf which represents my husband’s cancer treatments, with different colours representing different things. 

I’ve made a few amigurumi – an octopus for my great-nephew, a puppy for a friend whose dog was put to sleep 😦 and a molar…yes, a tooth…which was a gift for my orthodontist. I FINALLY got my braces off after 20 months. So happy, and I love my “new” teeth, though I’m still getting used to the fact they aren’t covered in metal. 

I’ve knitted three of the Nottawasaga Buffs now. Such a quick and simple pattern, and so useful. 

I hope February treated you well. We had a couple of cold snaps and a little snow, but really it’s been a very easy winter overall. My March will entail adding to the pile of marketable product for the summer market, seeing my husband through what’s probably going to be the worst of it (apparently things can get more painful in the two weeks post-treatment) and trying to motivate myself to actually do something other than sit on the couch! How about you?

Apr17

Itching to sew…

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With my crocheted Elevation Cardigan off the hook (photo above, it took 4 months to get finished) my knitted Sporto hooded sweater still on the needles (but at the point where I should decide what to do on the colourwork section) I just wanna sew!

Two evenings ago, I got home from work and after dinner ended up falling asleep on the couch before 9pm. Not really wanting to do the same thing last night, I went down to my sewing room and continued to work on a zipper pouch idea based on one I saw in a YouTube video. It has pockets inside, across both sides, to hold crochet hooks and interchangeable needle tips. I’m making mine with a zipper pocket on the outside too which can hold cables etc.

It’s nearly done and I’ll show it off next time.

This is a small drawstring bag that I made from more scrappy fabric. It’s nice to use scraps that would otherwise have gone in the trash. (You can probably see a bit of Olaf the snowman from Frozen in there).

And this is a “thing” that I made which is similar to a commercial case for an interchangeable needle set. The pockets were a bit loose so I added the nonslip vinyl but I don’t know if it was a good idea.

I really feel like booking a week off work and creating a sewing retreat…at home!

Jan26

Success!

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Following my knits blitz on the weekend, I successfully achieved one of my goals. I frankensteined a hoodie from three different types of buffalo plaid.

It was so freeing just picking pieces that were big enough to lay a pattern piece on and cut something out without worrying about it being perfect.

Another finish today was this bag. I bought the fabric this week for this project as it’s for a coworker and the bird print will be perfect for her. I just happened to have a piece of vinyl that was the right size- all I had to do was square it up.

It’s lined and has a pocket with an attached D ring, which is handy for a knitter’s project bag to hold stitch markers.

The crochet cardigan is on hold for now. Did the front bands and half of both sleeves and tried it on and decided I wouldn’t wear it with the light orange and yellow. So I’m going to frog back to the shoulders and hopefully get more of the burnt pumpkin colour. It’s Hobby Lobby yarn and they don’t ship to Canada but I’ll work it out somehow.

Working the next three days and hoping I feel better. Haven’t felt right since Sunday and work was an effort. Tummy still over-sensitive. Wish I could just carry on making stuff!!

Jun12

Sunday funday

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Sunday funday

Ah, a much needed day off today. The weather has been lovely and Mr Fixit and I went out this morning to enjoy a bit of the local scenery.

After our stroll along the lake through a small bird sanctuary we went for tea at our favourite tea shop.

After a couple of months of living with my natural hair colour, I’m ready for some fun again! I just need to decide what colour to use.

The Stash to Treasure batwing sweater is growing nicely. Since taking this photo this morning (try not to get confused by the granny blanket underneath it) I have added a few more purple rows and one panel is almost complete. Then I’ll just need to add the last purple section to the other panel and start the finishing process.

A few days ago I had a little play in my quilt cotton stash and identified some fabrics I’d like to use soon! These Indian-themed prints were bought a few years ago from Wool Warehouse in the UK. I made a couple of things for my sister back then because she loves India and I knew she’d like them. I realised I still had quite a lot left so I made these bags – there are two ‘open wide zipper pouches’ from the Noodlehead site, and an ‘origami drawstring bag’ from Minki Kim’s YT channel.

I always have an itch to play in my sewing room these days so I’ll have to earmark Tuesday or Wednesday as a sewing day this week. Maybe I’ll do the housework and other boring stuff on Tuesday and then I can play the next day!!

I have the germ of an idea for my next project…

May16

A cool spring

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This is me, the other evening. May has been a cool month compared to usual. Feels like we’ve had more rain, and the nights have been single digits Celsius. Even when the thermostat is turned up a bit, the furnace doesn’t fire much at this time of year, and I’ve been feeling the cold lately. I think my hormones are confused, because for a while there I was running hot.

I finished the bag I was crocheting. It became a drawstring bag with a sewn cotton lining. I’m pleased with the result. Not so happy with this pouch that I made last night.

You’d think that pattern companies with years of experience with creating and publishing patterns would compare favorably to YouTubers with sewing channels. Well, I made this from a Burda pattern and I have to say I wasn’t impressed.

The pattern is rated super easy. Sewing those triangle ends in was a pain, especially as the outer and inner layers are just pinned to each other so they shift. And there’s no interfacing so the bag doesn’t hold its structure. I prefer all my raw ends to be hidden inside the lining too – not so with this bag.

The “work cowl” which I started a couple of months ago is my companion project today while waiting for my friend at the dentist. It was living in my office filing cabinet but I was barely working on it at work.

It’s just half double crochet until the yarn is gone. The yarn is the O’go stuff that I made a beanie with months ago.

Yesterday it was raining most of the day. I enjoyed it. Wet Sundays with few commitments remind me of my twenties, living in the island where I grew up, when we worked Monday to Friday and had weekends off and would go round to one of the parents’ houses and have tea and cake and a natter. It rains a lot there!

Today started out very foggy but the cloud has mostly cleared and the sun is shining. It’s 18° but there is still a chill in the wind.

Next job is to make burger buns for dinner. Time to get out the flour and yeast.

Mar8

Sewing frustrations

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Sewing frustrations

This zipper pouch caused a lot of frustration. I used two of the adding machine paper scrap strips. It was all fine and dandy until I realised I had forgotten to remove the paper and had to rip out my stitching AND peel back the fused Thermolam.

Also the top corners looked like crap and I had to figure out what I was doing wrong in that area. I probably should have just gone back and reviewed a tutorial on YouTube but you’d think I would know what I’m doing by now.

Anyway it’s good enough for my own use but I doubt I’d give it as a gift because it still has issues!

This small drawstring bag is for my boss. I used a scrap of vinyl and some quilting cotton from stash. It’s about 10″ tall and has some chocolate inside for her birthday.

Rather than boxing the bottoms the usual way, I did that thing where you fold your fabric in half, right sides together, top edges matching, then push about an inch and a half of the bottom edge up inside then sew the side seams. It makes for a cool detail on the base without the extra step of sewing across the corners and chopping off the triangles to get that 3D bottom.

I just had three days off and my main activity was reading. Why? Well, this came in at the library.

You Outlander fans will understand!

I did get some exercise in too. We went out for a sunny walk on Sunday and on Monday I spent over an hour at the gym in the morning and I was back in the evening for yoga.

Work today so I shall have to put Jamie and Claire aside until this evening!

Jan30

Spring-y scrappy bag

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This was an intense amount of sewing. Whilst pulling out fabrics for my little gnome quilt I found the leftovers from the quilt I made last year with the zippers for tree trunks and the flying leaves and butterflies. There were some pieces of patchwork already sewn together and some long strips.

I spent a little time before a late shift building up fabric from all the pieces and then continued the next day until I had a large rectangle-ish shape.

I had a big enough chunk of the leafy fabric to make the lining without piecing.

I quilted the patchwork to some cotton batting with simple diagonal lines and trimmed everything to the same size.

I wasn’t sure when I started what sort of bag this was going to become but I ended up adding casings for a drawstring and a handle (set in diagonally as I’ve seen in some other bags).

It’s huge. It could hold a lot of yarn. A sweater project at least. And I love how cheerful it is.

Nov30

Blogmas, here I come

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Hi everyone! I have decided I’m going to participate in BLOGMAS this year. “What the heck is Blogmas?” I hear you cry! Well, it’s quite simple – it’s when bloggers such as I write a post every day (or every other day, depending on time commitment) during December. Some say it ends on the 25th, others do the whole month.

My plan is to post every day from the 1st to the 25th. I will be opening my home-made Advent calendar each day and I’m sure I’ll have lots of other things to talk about.

I’ll be watching some of my fave podcasters doing Vlogmas (the video version of Blogmas). If you are a blogger/vlogger please comment below with your website address so I can come and visit.

After all, blogging and vlogging is all about sharing and building community.

Photos above include two handmade Christmas cards, a batik patchwork drawstring bag (I finally cut into one of my turtle batiks from my holiday in Maui about 4 years ago), a pillowcase-sized sack (one of three) for putting under the tree later this month, and my knitting WIP.

See you tomorrow!

Aug1

More bags…and RAIN!

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More bags…and RAIN!

Ohmigosh, the best thing happened today. After what seems like forever, low humidity, excessive heat and smoke, we had rain today. And it wasn’t just a little sprinkle, it was a good downpour. I was at work and could hear the rain drumming on the roof and see puddles in the parking lot.

When I left at 6.15 it was humid and only around 21 degrees, which is about 15°C cooler than most other days at that time.

I hope it dampened down some of the hundreds of fires which are burning around the province, and helps prevent new ones from starting. The valley is still full of smoke, and the visibility is crap, but the coolness is blissful. After last night, tossing and turning because I was so hot, I think I’ll sleep better tonight.

Anyway, there has of course been crafting. My Ravellenic Games project is finished, well before the deadline of the end of the actual Olympics. Ta dah!

I shall look forward to receiving my virtual medal!!

And I sewed another bag for my coworker to go with the tote that I showed you last time.

It’s from a SewingTimes YouTube tutorial for a cosmetic bag. It was pretty fiddly in places and the brush slot section was sewn on when I realized I hadn’t positioned it properly. I had to get the seam ripper out and redo it.

I love that flower fabric; the piece I had was only just big enough to use for that part of the bag. And the purple zipper is the perfect shade.

I doubt I’ll make another but it was a good challenge.

Work again tomorrow but as it’s a stat (BC Day) we’re only open for five hours. I think I shall give myself a treat and NOT set the alarm!

Jul28

I’m just a Bag lady

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Two more bags to show you, one a crochet work-in-progress and the other a sewn finished object.

The above patchwork bag is a giant tote with denim on the back, patchwork from 4.5″ cut squares on the front, denim handles and a magnetic clasp.

I didn’t follow a tutorial for this, just made it up as I went along. The fabrics were inspired by this little drawstring bag…

…which I made recently and decided to give to a coworker who’s leaving. I made the tote to coordinate so I can give it to her at the same time.

It just took me an afternoon from idea to FO.

My little crocheted bag is coming along. I joined in with a Patreon Zoom chat this morning with Hannah of The Cozy Cottage Crochet podcast, and got the squares joined to the base and started the upper section.

It’s still super smoky here and the event I had planned (crocheting at the beach) isn’t going ahead as most people would prefer to stay home in their AC! I must say, my chest feels crappy today, even though I have been indoors all day and haven’t been aware of a strong smoke smell. Ah well, maybe next week.