Santa's Workshop

Tuesday, December 13
Crack-a-lackin! Now that I'm back in town and back to the sewing machine, no messing around! Santa's elves have a long list of to-dos still to do!! One has to be discreet, with inquiring minds snooping--er, possibly inquiring--about, but I will give a peek into one project I've been busy with:

Given my poor camera skills, for those who reasonably might not be able to make this out, it's a canvas tote bag with the adorable dog fabric I found on Etsy. Suffice it to say, there may be a few other tote bags lined up on the assembly line (and it may have been in the line of tote-bag-duty that my finger was skewered!). Once I figured out how not to sew the handles upside down and inside the lining of the bag (harrumph!), the pattern was completely easy to follow. I'm using bijoulovelydesigns's pattern, which I found on Tipnut's posting for 50+ reusable grocery bag patterns. I've skipped the bottom plastic insert (which provides helpful structure for grocery use), as I'm intending these bags for more day-to-day "soft" use. I'm making this large size, but I love these so much I'm now contemplating some cute handbag sized ones (about 5x5). By the way, how cool is it that folks share their patterns for free online! Thanks Bijou Lovely and Tipnut! My Christmas wallet is thanking you!

On other project fronts, I'm also cranking out (theoretically speaking, of course!) Keyka Lou's easy envelope clutch wallet. It is a perfect fit for a smart phone and cash and cards, and is a really quick sew.
(photo credit to Keyka Lou--this is from her site. My own wallet has already been used so much it doesn't look this tidy, and I want to hide away the ones I'm making!)

I love love love Keyka Lou's patterns--they're easy to sew (and that's saying something coming from a newbie like me!!), and totally affordable! This envelope clutch takes almost no fabric, so completely affordable. An aside to family who might possibly read this post: please don't think I'm cheap; just saving up for the big gifts! ;-)

Now, I don't want to sound ungrateful for the solid and dependable service that my stolid, 40 year-0ld Susie Singer has provided me, but my yet-to-be-named Oh Brother! has totally changed my sewing! I can actually FMQ with her (and it doesn't look laughable)! I can sew in straight lines without wrestling with the fabric! I'll go back to the free-motion quilting phenomenon, because that blows me away. I thought that was going to take years and years of practice; I hadn't realized how much a steady machine (with really good, reliable tension!) really mattered! Yay technology!

And now, finally (for now), a shout out to my friend Arpana! Karen and I met up for a very quick catch up with our friend Arpana who was in town at the Y (that is BYU for non Utah folks, not the YMCA!) to give a few academic talks. We haven't seen her since the wedding (more than a year ago!) and it was so so wonderful to be able to reconnect with such a dear friend!! Time passes far too quickly and it's hard when we're living in different parts of the country!