chevron bow clutch

I'm experiencing a rare moment where all my children are sleeping (huzzah!), so here's to having a few minutes of uninterruped computer time (insert sigh of relief here).

I saw this little clutch on Pinterest and it jumped to the top of my to-sew list.  The tutorial can be found over at blog Elm Street Life, and since this is the first sewing tutorial Whitney's ever written, I think it is safe to say we will see fabulous things from her.

This one was for my friend's birthday, and now have a bit of bag envy (there's a lot of that going on around here lately.  I recently made Ruby a purse and have severe bag envy.  Nothing that can't be remedied).

The only small changes I made were to add zipper end tabs (a la noodlehead), and add a little inside pocket.  I made a second one in different fabric and left off the bow - big mistake.  The bow makes it 10,000 times cuter.  Trust me.

That's all for today!  Hope you're having a happy Tuesday.

the Really Big Bag

It was my mom's birthday last Friday (happy birthday, mom!).  I love making gifts to fulfill a need ... in this case, my mom was in need of a bag to take to the gym, and she is too wonderful to just use one of my brother's stinky old duffel bags.

I generally gravitate towards simple patterns (love a fast sew!) but I've had my eye on the Modern Diaper Bag from Amy Butler's book, Little Stitches for Little Ones, for a while.   One thing has been holding me back - the 52 pieces of fabric and interfacing it requires (52!!).  Amy Butler loves her interfacing.

But my mom is worth it. 

I am calling this the Really Big Bag because it is so gigantic.  While I love a sizable bag, there is no way I would carry this around town as a diaper bag.  It is better suited as a weekend bag, or a beach bag, and fingers crossed that it is not too big to take to the gym pool.

It was my first time tackling a magnetic clasp.  These are so easy!  I feel silly for avoiding them, and will probably include them on all of my totes from here on out.

The bag has 6 really big pockets inside.  My mom was happy that she'd be able to take her shampoo and stuff and still have room for a big towel.  I think the side pockets will be just right for a water bottle.

There was supposed to be a cell phone pocket on the outside, but the instructions were crazy confusing. The pocket was not pictured in any of the photos and without a diagram to guide me, I couldn't figure it out ... so it was left off.

All in all, I loved the result.  But this is definitely a one-time project.

Fabric: Heirloom Blockprint in Blossom Green by Joel Dewberry

In other birthday news, today is my husband's birthday.  So happy birthday, sweetie!  You are literally the best guy I know and I'm so glad to have you in my life.

happy valentine's day!

Hi friends!  Sorry I haven't been around much lately.  You know how some bloggers seem to be able to have a baby and barely skip a beat posting?  I am obviously not one of of those bloggers.

Having three small children is challenging for me, testing both my patience and my time management skills (I have very little of either).  And while Cora is evolving into a delightful baby, I find that I just don't have as much time for things.  I can squeeze in some sewing, or fit in a few minutes to blog, but not both.  Maybe that will change in the coming months?  I hope so.

Anyway, late last night I made some little valentines for the kids to pass out at their playgoup today.  I realize I'm too late to help you out with valentine ideas this year, but maybe you can file these away (pin them away?) for next year.

We opted for non-food valentines.  Oscar gave his friends bubbles with a tag that read, "Valentine, you make my heart float!" (idea from Dollar Store Crafts).  I found Miracle Bubble party packs (6 bottles) at CVS for $4 and made the tags with my Silhouette machine (the font is SNF School Yard).  Quick and easy!  The kids loved them.

For the little ladies, I made a handful of felt heart hairpins and a cute little valentine girl to clip them to.  I saw the idea a while back on Stitch/Craft.  I even used the same clip art she mentions in her post, but used microsoft paint to edit the face a bit (I actually used two clip art faces and traded a few facial features).

The felt heart clips right onto the girl's headband, and the valentine is on the back.  It was cute to see all the girls running around in their matching clips.  I sported one myself!

I hope you had a special day with your loved ones!  Speaking of loved ones, look how big this one is getting ...