Manly tote/fish bag...

Happy Friday everybody!  Not sure about you but I was very happy to clock out at work this afternoon!  Tomorrow Mr. P and I are taking a day trip so he can do a little fishing.

Three years ago I made Mr. P a bag to put his fish in for transporting them from the fishing spot home. (since he likes to take my car when he goes fishing)  The original bag was pretty small at about 13 inches by 11 inches and the bottom was not boxed.

He wanted a bigger bag to hold the "big ones"so I went to work making him an updated,or new and improved version.  It needed to be big,"like the tote bags you make",with a real long strap so it can just be slung over the shoulder for ease of carrying.

I used a belt discarded from a recently purchased pair of shorts for the strap.  Just like the first bag this one has a fusible vinyl coating fused to the fabrics,so that the bag can just be washed out at the garden hose after each use.

For the inside fabric I used the same fabric that the first bag was made from.  To give the bag stability I used some deco fuse on the lining fabric,so the bag not only stands on its own,but the top also stays wide open.  So that it is easy to add fish no matter what size.

I had some issues with the thread breaking while trying to sew the topstitching around the top of the bag.  Other than that this bag was an easy project.  My favorite kind!

CherryLicous is also finished!  This was my second finish for the week,for the quilting I did a crisscross pattern that ended up making diamonds and rectangles.  The backing is the same black cherry print used in the second round of churn dash blocks.  The binding is scrappy with green and a red,black and white print.

Have a Sweet Weekend!
Linking up with : Fabric Frenzy Friday #23 over at Fort Worth Fabric Studio,  Let's Bee Social # 29 over at Sew Fresh quilts & Finish it up Friday over at crazy mom quilts

Sound Wave block & other stuff

Happy Friday eve ;0)  Hope everyone has been having a sewing kind of week!

After finishing up mom's quilt the other day I sat down and tackled my first Skill Builder BOM Sound Wave...

I just had to make it using the Kona Ash :)  I still might make one with a black background,I know it would really make the batik's stand out,but the Kona Ash just calls out to me.  See that bit of yellow sticking out at the edges of the block?  It is a new tool toy,one of three that was purchased the last trip to Joann's.

This is what it looks like,without a quilt block on it.  This sweet toy is a Rotating Rotary cutting mat.

This is what it looks like when you rotate it slightly,and it rotates so easily too.  Where has this little gem been hiding?  Or what rock have I been under?  This is one of the "optional"tools listed for the BOM over at Pile O' Fabric

Another tool listed was a 12 1/2 x 12 1/2 inch square ruler.  Let me just say,I can not count the times this would have come in so handy,and I will be using it a Lot from now on.

With this ruler and the rotating cutting mat,squaring up my block was a piece of cake!

Usually I am not going to the city on weekends when there is an awesome sale going on at Joann's,but this time was the exception.  The sweetest part,all the Fiskars cutting tools/mats were on sale for 50% off :0)  So I still got to use my coupon for something else,gotta love it when that happens!  Since the mats were on sale I was also able to purchase the 6 1/2 inch size too!  Of course these three items totally blew my fabric allowance for the month,even on sale,but then $25 doesn't go that far.  Good thing I still had a little $ left from Christmas to use on the batting for mom's quilt,or I would have went over the amount I have allotted myself for fabric/sewing purchases per month this year!

I have decided that this year I will make more sewing tool purchases than fabric purchases.  One month in,so far so good :0)

The last couple evenings have been spent working on this Gift/Tote bag,because every quilt needs a bag just as sweet where it can patiently wait for the next time it is taken out and used :0)

It was finished up just in time for a couple quick photos before the sun went behind the mountains this evening!  I can hardly wait to give this to mom,I am so excited about it!  Good thing I can spill the beans about it here ;0)

Citrus Bag take 2

Saturday afternoon I finally sat down to work on some more totes.  Even though it was baking hot in my sewing room!  Where did all that rain in the afternoons run off to?

Here is the fruit of my endeavors,it is amazing to me how different this one looks from the first Citrus Bag!  As you can see I moved the pieced strip up to the middle of the bag,on the first one it was very near the bottom.  The straps/handles on this bag have three different colored prints also used in the body of the bag.  While the first one had only two different colors on the straps/handles.

The lighter colored strips of fabric above and below the center pieced strip bring out the lighter shades,where as on the first bag the colors were a lot more vibrant.

For the lining on this bag/tote I decided to go with a center stripe of color while leaving the rest of the body grey.  You can see that I didn't plan out the pockets very well.  So I just cut a couple of pieces of cardboard and slipped them into each pocket.  Now the bag stands up quite nicely,not that it didn't before,but now it doesn't slump at all.  Where the first one does ever so slightly.

The third and last Citrus Bag is in pieces at the moment,hoping to finish it up sometime this coming week.

The other evening I was out running around with the camera taking more photos of my sunflowers and the garden.  This is such a cool shot,I just couldn't pass it up :)

The first sunflower to bloom in the patch out front!

Check out what I spied in the garden!  In a couple of days the first tomato will be ready to pick!!  Have a great week :)

Linking up with  Karen over at Sew Many Ways