Do I ever have time for anything else? ...

... of course not ... I only have time for sewing. Ok so I do a lot more than sew bags, but judging by my recent posts that's all I seem to do. Plus eating decadent foods and occasionally wearing silly gowns and hats. However in sewing land it has been bag central.

These two are for my Aunt's 80th Birthday this weekend. A big one for all that shopping, and a little one for those smaller trips. I hope the big one isn't too big for her. She isn't too frail or anything, but something that size can fit a lot, and would get heavy for anyone. I just couldn't help myself and kept adding layers which made it bigger and bigger. More and more blue (her favourite colour)

Here's a close up of the big blue one. It is large patchwork in the middle, with a blue floral border then some smaller patches on the outside. This was the first time I had embedded handles between the lining and the outer, they ended up a little long, but workable.

I gave this one to a different Aunt and Uncle last Sunday. Patchwork on both sides, with two different kinds of purple. These are very basic, but were test runs for french seaming. It seems I am improving and they loved the bag. Again it is really just a glorified shopping bag, but it looks good too. Machine washable for when the bananas you forgot to take out two weeks ago go mouldy. Don't you just love the boots int he background! Maybe I shoulda cropped those out ...

This picture below doesn't do the bag justice, and now it has gone home with its recipient (my Mum!!!) I can't take anymore pics. I wanted to show the front, back and floral lining all in one shot, but really it just looks like it is falling off a shelf. Pink patchwork one side, pink and black dots on the other, with some dark purple florals inside. Again another french seaming practice run.

A friend on facebook asked for closeups of the stitching of the dooner cover I made. This is about as close as you'll get. It had three different sizes of patch, mostly orienal and floral motifs. See here:

In between I sewed some gold ribbon. This covered the joins of the material and also added to the overall design of it. I wanted the black stitching to be noticable so I did this zigzag stitch. It's uneven in places, but worked out ok.

This is the floral material that covers the bottom half. I had to run a few lines of stitches through it but I didn't want to quilt it properly, leaving it instead to retain some natural flow. That's because it is partially seethrough and I loved the effect of the blue behind it. We will see how long this holds up.

 
Here are the three elements together.

Current projects include finishing an apron for the lovely other half, finishing a different apron for Mum and making a skirt for me. Well trying to make a skirt for me.