Leaps and bounds

I could get used to this retirement thing! Getting a decent night's sleep, eating well, taking long walks. And sewing. It's all on the schedule I made up for myself.

Yes, I made myself a schedule. That's me. People told me that I'd lose track of time after I retired, and there are so many things I want to do with my time now that I have some for myself that I don't want to waste it. Only thing is, blogging isn't on my schedule.

Guess I'd better add it somewhere, but I'm not spending very much time at my computer these days. That's all I did at work.

My friend and next door neighbour challenged me last week to get some sewing done. Up until then I'd been staring at my machine, moving things around on the table and not getting much else done. It's awesome what a challenge will do!

I started making these little bags again. I made four of them. In one week. Along with music practice, lunch with the gals, house work, yard work, walks, visits and everything else. I made these half an inch narrower than the first ones. You can still fit a cell phone in the outer pockets or a Canadian passport (or money or keys or glasses or...) in the zippered pocket.

Have I mentioned how much I love Laurel Burch fabrics? Probably once or twice. I made up one for myself and had to stop and think about what I would really like on my own bag. Well, cats, of course. I have a not too shabby

collection of cat fabric, and a nice selection of Laurel Burch cats. It wasn't too hard to find some bits that went together nicely.
I'll probably make more of these little bags in the future, but for now I'm off on another project. After that I'll get back to finishing the "bingo bags" that I started well before Christmas.
And after that, I'd like to get back to making quilts. Before that, though, there's going to be a garden to work up and plant. It's going to be fun!
Until next time,

Neck purses

Wow - last day of January already. It's been a busy month at work, which translates into not much time for sewing. But that will change very soon!

I made these last December as Christmas presents for co-workers. We always exchange handmade gifts and for the past three years I've been giving them bags. This year I chose these badge holders, although I call them neck wallets because I replace the clear plastic badge holder with another fabric pocket. Above is a picture of the front and below is the back.

It took me a while to figure out these free instructions found here, and I had to look at other badge holder patterns but, of course, when you see how it goes together it all makes sense. Let me know if you need help in deciphering the pattern.

Because I've sewn things for my co-workers over the years, I always use a little bit of the same fabric on everything I make for them - either for continuity or to satisfy my obsessive-compulsive nature. Depending on how tall (or short) they are, I make the neck strap 24 inches and then add or subtract two inches or so.

Of all the patterns I've looked at for badge holders, I like this one the best because of the pockets, and it really is simple to make. Pockets on the front and back and a zipper pocket to put small things that you don't want to lose, or maybe a passport that you want to keep safe. I could even fit the neck joint of my soprano recorder in there to keep it warm before a concert. The rear pocket is great for a cellphone.
I'm working on more of these at the moment. As you can see, they make great little gifts. They don't use much fabric and they're great for fussy cutting.
Until next time,