Reusable Snack Bags

I've been meaning to experiment and make some reusable snack bags for over six months now, ever since I saw them for sale in a store for over $10 each (!) last summer.  Less buying and tossing of ziplocs, as well as less kitchen clutter of used/washed ziplocs floating around waiting for another use.  

A few hours last Saturday and I had a pattern worked out.  Another hour or so this Saturday and we are stocked up with four larger sandwich bags and four smaller snack bags.  


The outside is cotton scraps from the closet stash.  The inside is pieces of an old tablecloth - the kind that is vinyl on one side and flannel on the other.  We use a table cloth like that on our dining room table at all times.  A single tablecloth lasts almost a year (if you include using clear mailing tape to patch holes for a while).  Once it becomes too ratty for the dining room table, it then gets demoted to a craft/painting dropcloth.  We are on our second tablecloth now and I KNEW I saved the first one for a reason.  :)  Just made sure there weren't any paint drips on the pieces I cut out for lining and we're good to go!   I also had spare velcro in the dresser so that means each of these bags cost me exactly zero dollars to make.  Even better!  


Velcro closure - hoping it won't get too nasty with crumbs and whatnot.  I plan to keep them clean by either just brushing out the crumbs, giving them a swish around in the dishwater and let them air dry, or they can be tossed in the regular laundry.  


Leah already claimed the pink crosshatch one as her 'lunch sandwich bag' since it'll match her pink lunchbox.  :)  I did make one green on purpose so as not to make Keith eat out of a pink or purple bag at work.  (He usually uses tupperware anyway, so not a huge risk...)  

   

Elephant Wrapping Paper

Finding I was completely out of suitable wrapping paper, it seemed easier to whip up a drawstring bag than to run to the store for baby-themed wrapping paper.  


So, wha-lah!  A little tote for the mom to be (or siblings) to carry around whatever they'd like after the elephant is revealed...


Made from the leftover Eric Carle fabric with a shoelace as a drawstring.  As Leah's teacher would say..."Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezee!"  

Elephant

And isn't this little guy just too cute?!


He'll be used for a baby gift - I've got three friends having babies this spring.

Its a Heather Bailey pattern.  Its supposed to be a 4 inch pincushion, but I copied it at 200% so its roughly eight inches tall.  I handstitched it all using a sturdy backstitch.  It took a while, but I wanted it to hold together well.  The pattern is well done and easy to follow.  There is a turtle pattern too that I might just have to try - maybe the next baby gift?

Kindergarten Class Quilt

Here are photos of a quilt I just made with Leah's kindergarten class.  One of their required science units is about fabric and quilts/blankets.  So they've been reading books about quilting and I helped her teacher with a few activities.  They made quilts on paper by gluing one inch squares of fabric (cut from my stash) onto a gridded sheet of paper.  I might put Leah's on here once she brings it home - its up in the hallway at school now.  


Then we made this quilt together about the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  I prepped the quilt squares by centering a 6'' square of freezer paper on a 7'' square of white muslin.  (I found that two layers of freezer paper worked best.  Stiff enough to color on but still easy for the kids to peel off when they were done.)  I then made up index cards with things that the caterpillar ate.  Each kid got to pick a card from the deck and thats what their quilt square would be about.  Then they used crayons to draw the food and label it.  Most kids drew caterpillars eating their designated food.  


I brought all that home and then heat set the crayon on the muslin (hot dry iron over paper to soak up the extra wax).  Then I made it into simple quilt using the current Caterpillar line of fabric from Andover Fabrics.   


On the back of the quilt are muslin blocks with each kid's name on it.  If I do it again, I'll do that part differently - I made all the names into a panel which I then sewed onto the backing.  I was  trying to avoid piecing together the backing but the extra layers ended up making that part of the back of the quilt kind of stiff.  Next time I'll just suck it up and piece the backing.  :)   I used polyester batting from my scrap bin and a quick-turn-and-topstitch finish.  No sense in binding or doing anything fancy on something that is going to be used in a kindergarten classroom.   This week I'll take the quilt in to show the kids and then they can help me tie with yarn in a few places.  That will fulfill another 'unit' of their science lesson - to sew a few stitches.  


Overall, fun.  I think the kids will be surprised at how cute it turned out.  Enjoy the pictures!  

Update:  I spent two afternoon in the classroom during their hourlong 'Choice Time' letting the kids stitch around their squares with green embroidery floss.  About 10 or so out of 18 kids wanted to give it a whirl - some just did a few stitches, others went all the way around their block.  One little girl cracked me up when she saw me threading a needle and said, "Hey - my mom knows how to do that too, only not as fast as you just did it."  Another girl came over with a piece of paper and a marker at the ready and wanted me to spell the name of all the supplies and the name of the fabric store where I bought everything so she could tell her mom to buy her some sewing stuff 'since now I know how'.  I don't have a photo of the stitched on quilt but I'll try to get one.    

This isn't sewing, but its crafty so I'll add it anyway.  


Leah and I decorated/glazed these items at a local paint-your-own pottery place.  Super fun and I think they turned out adorable!  

Leah's 'treasure box'

One side of the snack bowls

And the back side

I could see this place becoming very addicting!  

It would be great anytime you need a personalized gift.

And the first project to be 'blogged'...  :)

I made three sets of beanbags at the very end of 2011.  Two sets were given as gifts to toddler nieces and nephews.  One set is for us here at home.  Think snowball fight but with beanbags.  :)


4 inch squares serged on three sides.  Fill with beans or rice (I preferred the dried beans for both their ease of handling - the rice grains tend to float around and get under the presser foot - and the satisfying sound the beanbags make).  Serge the fourth side closed to keep the beans in.  This is the inner bag.  Then I used a five inch square of pretty fabric for the outer bag.  Sew/serge on three and a half sides, squeeze the inner bag into the outer bag, and then topstitch around the whole thing.  I topstitched twice on the 'open side'.  Kind of paranoid about beans escaping since I was giving them to toddlers as gifts.


Then I made a cute bag to hold them.  Two bags were drawstring, the pictured one has a zipper.

So, here is where all the magic happens...my newly redesigned sewing room.


I basically kicked the guest bed/dresser set out of the room and took over the whole space for sewing/crafting.  I have an 8-foot countertop exclusively for the sewing machine and serger, which leaves room for working on both sides of both machines.  Its great!  That meant my previous machine/cutting table could be used exclusively for cutting and laying out.  A spot between the cutting table and the machines for the ironing station, a long low dresser for storage of notions, and another table (garage sale find!) for the girls crafting area.  And - bonus - because the room is long there was room along one long wall for my 100'' hand quilting frame.  Talk about efficient use of space!  :)  The closet stores all the fabric behind bi-fold doors.  Someday maybe I'll change those out for fabric curtains - we'll see.  I have a few things to hang on the walls yet and could use a different way to store books and patterns, but other than that its an amazing space to work and play!


I've been using it for a few months now and am amazed at how fun it is.  The girls roam in and out all the time, leaving their projects in disarray.  But its disarray on their table - not mine!  :)  The best part is definitely the countertop for the machines and thereby having a whole table to layout.  Makes things so convenient!  So...thats the sewing room.

Here is the (currently empty) hand quilting frame. 

Above it, Hobby Lobby letters painted a mauve/pink and white. 

Cutting/Layout table, ironing area, tool pegboard.  

Made fresh white table skirt and curtains with pink trim for the freshly painted room (a very light green).

 Framed 8 X 10's of the girls over the worktable.

The 'Menards special' 8-foot countertop.  Keith made the base/legs.  So much room!

Two big windows - great for natural light, not so great for drafty winter winds.

Dresser for storage, girls craft table, and the old Singer for decoration.  

A 1940s Singer that was Keith's grandmother's uncles.  That is what I sewed with for a couple years before getting my Viking.  I then discovered how great it was when a machine sews a straight seam!  :)