Making Reversible Tote Bags...

 Making reversible tote bags is something I have done for decades.  I love the utilitarian aspect of a good tote bag.  It can hold so many things...art supplies, groceries, books, electronic gadgets, return items back to the store and the list goes on and on.
Pink toile is just dreamy.  The scenes of daily life and the stories that can be told just looking at this wonderful fabric.  A couple of removable fabric and lace pins.

 Fun Parisian themed fabric on one side of the tote.  Good sturdy webbing handles covered in gathered coordinated fabric to add style and strength for carrying those heavy loads.

This one has a generous pocket either inside or outside depending on which fabric you turn over.  This pocket on the Parisian side is embellished with a lace doily and a lace and fabric removable flower pin.  Spending time sewing.  Making gifts.  Making items to sell in my etsy shoppe.  This is my favorite way to spend my waning summer days. 
Christmas in August has been a very good way for me to get a head start on the busy holidays that always get too stressed and hectic to enjoy.  I feel this year will be much calmer and much more enjoyable.
I have my list and I am checking it twice. 

Now for dinner...I let the crockpot do the work today.  Country Ribs slow cooking all day and Bushes Baked Beans with embellishments (oh yeah...embellishments aren't just for crafting!) and homemade cole slaw will complete this last of August Summer dinners. 
I am thankful Irene was calmer than expected and I pray for anyone still suffering the effects. 

Reversible Tote Bag...

I have not been taking time to be creative what with summer weeds to pull, housecleaning before, during and after company and whatever laziness I am enjoying with the warm summer days I love so very much. So several weeks ago I pulled out some fabrics. This red toile is one of my favorites.

With the weight of the toile I chose this sort of bandana fabric to coordinate. Next I cut out the pieces to make a reversible tote bag. I personally can never have too many tote bags.

Here is the bandana side complete with a pocket that I stuck some white envelopes inside of just to show it is there. This side of the tote is not my favorite however I think it works quite well for those times you might be feeling "down home".

Here is the finished tote with the toile side out. I love this scene of the boys playing and just living life. That is what toile fabric is...scenes of life. I made one of my lace flower pins and added it to the red handle. Of course it is removable if you want to wear it on your lapel or your hair or whatever.

I always enjoy making tote bags and am thinking I shall get out some more fabrics to match up and sew some more bags. My sewing machine is lonely and I am feeling creative.

What goodies are you making or planning for future projects?

Sunshine Summer Smiles to all...

Life Happens...

This is some super cute fabric that makes me smile. It is chickens with a kitchen food theme. This photo does not do justice to how truly adorable and cheerful it is. And with the lining fabric of fried eggs it just had to become a tote bag to carry car trip snacks for a road trip.

Now Miss Lorraine and her hubby Mr. Rickey can easily carry a few much needed energy foods for a very long road march. Hmmm...pbj sandwiches, apple, peanut bar, water, M&Ms...check and good to go.
Now for the Life Happens...let me just say that is an understatement. We all experience it. It never happens at the right time or situation but it certainly happens. Yesterday I came home from errands and found Mr. C sitting at my desk computer. UhOh...not a good thing. I just kept on walking. What? Oh you need me to listen to you? Okay. Oh you decided to do what? Upgrade my computer with new versions of everything! You? Why? You never want new versions of software! Oh okay...

Needless to say after the entire day was over and it was late evening when he finished I sat down to post my Memory Lane Monday post and read my blog friends posts. Nope! Not going to happen! No way! No how! I couldn't even find my own blog let alone anyone else's. I spent hours trying to figure out where things were. Mr. C said things would be different and that too was an understatement. I, of course, am not the technical one in this family as Mr. C spent a great part of his life in the leading edge of technology and therefore I merely follow as I am told. Well, that can be a really big problem for me as I don't even speak his language and certainly cannot tell him what I lost or where I lost it from. We are really Mars and Venus and normally being opposites works pretty well for us. However not in technical computer land. I was lost and worse yet, my blogs were lost. Think Sherry! What is the perfect name to type in from scratch to recover your blogs you love? Not that! Oops! There has to be a better way...

Hours and hours later I did manage to find my lost blogs. So I begin to retrieve them and it takes forever as each one must be re-formatted to this new system of foreign software updates.

I have just discovered that I am not able to add any links or to preview in this post. DRAT! Needless to say I have gotten too far behind to catch up so I shall begin from this point forward.
Thank you for letting me vent. And thank you even more for staying with me on this journey of life and how and when IT happens.

At least I made a really cute little tote bag and feel good about being creative. Yay for crafts!!!

Please tell me what you are working on and how great it makes you feel to be creative.

Remake of ReMarthable...

Is this bag ReMarthable? You probably have one of these same bags. I got this "free" when I paid my subscriptions to some Martha Stewart publications. When I received it I couldn't believe the super short handles. What on earth would anyone use this bag for with these useless short handles? If you are shopping you want your hands free and probably want to put your bag over your shoulder. So I put it in a pile and forgot about it. Useless bag?

Where is your quality control Martha? How could you put your name on such a piece of poor workmanship? This photo is not an optical illusion. The handles really are this crooked! You can see why I merely threw this bag into the pile of "deal with it later" stuff. Throw it away? Me? Never.

Hmmm...I have an idea for this bag. When will I ever get to it? NOW. Now has come.

Here is the bag shown with a very small piece of fabric I picked up for 50 cents one day. I just liked the colors in this piece. They look like watercolors in happy Spring hues. Besides the piece was just 50 cents. How could I not buy it for only 50 cents? :o)

So in the spirit of doing things NOW I have deconstucted the bag of poor quality and useless handles. Martha...Martha...Martha! Your bag already looks so much better.

I am so very happy with my "new" bag. It has handles that fit over my shoulder so my hands are free to shop. It has pockets on the front and back which before it had no pockets. No pockets? Where would I put my shopping list? Or my bottle of water and snack? What kind of bag has no pockets? I added some delicate lace just because I like lace and feminine. I also pinned on one of my fabric and lace flowers just for fun.

Now this bag is functional and fun.

Martha I hope you are taking notes.

It feels so good to have this project completed. Maybe I'll go shopping this week.

Happy and productive week to each of you...

Valentine Tote Bags...

My idea completed. A group photo. The feel of these is soft and wonderful.

Right after New Years I went to our local fabric store to buy some wool felt. You do see it on the bottom of this beautiful stack. The gorgeous wools are for future use. And the laces...well a girl just has to have lace in her stash. So back to the wool felt. I purchased three colors, burgundy, pink and white. Here is what I made.

The perfect lightweight durable small tote for errand shopping or snack carrying or anything you like. I think they would make super cute Valentine gifts...empty or filled.

Here is the pink tote. Did you see the hearts stitched onto each handle? I love my sewing machine. Together we can keep the thread industry in business for quite some time to come.

Hand cutting all the red felt hearts and the red organdy hearts that are sewn on with the buttons was tedius but what else would I be doing?! Of course I did list these in my etsy shop. We will see if anyone needs to own these cute handy totes.

It felt so good to spend time in the studio and the sewing room making these.
What are you making, creating, painting, journaling, etcetera?

Happy weekend to everyone...

Gifts Given & Time to Relax...

I love using wool felt and sewing with it. This is the back side of a tote bag I made.

Here is the front. I have added one of my wool flower pins that can be removed and worn on a lapel or such. The buttons add a nice touch to the handles I think.

The back side of another one I made for gift giving.

Here is the front with it's wool flower. I am thinking I really need to make some of these for my girls as they turned out so nicely. Maybe I shall start on Valentine gifts next.

Christmas was wonderful. Lots of family, friends, food, fun and gift exchanging.

Today is a day to relax and reflect. Mr. C took me out to a wonderful breakfast at one of our favorite local restaurants in town. Then we took the scenic route home and saw lots of very sleepy and rainy wet homes and businesses. Maybe they too are relaxing and catching a breath after the Christmas rush.

Enjoy your week and do what you really like doing.

Happy end of December to all...

Replenish

Today the Saucy Chicks did some replenishing of supplies. An entire day of shopping and gathering supplies is exhausting but very necessary. The day before we spent working on projects and organizing more of the studio. We are so very pleased with our work. We merchandised our display area of Saucy Chick decorations and gift items that have been given to us. We sorted through lots of office supplies including a lot of colored pencils, Crayola boxes, watercolors and general pens, pencils, scissors and punches of all shapes and sizes. Lots of duplicate supplies are headed to some wonderful disadvantaged school children.
Now we feel ready to tackle lots more projects that we have in our minds to do.
We are completing tote bags, aprons, beaded bracelets and holiday cards. Gearing up to complete our own Christmas list of handmade gifts for friends and family. Therefore our supplies needed to be replenished so we will be ready to accomplish all the fun and fabulous items we will make.
We Saucy Chicks just completed a wire wrapping class so now we can expand our creative projects to include some of these fun techniques.
Today is also the last day of September and fall is in the air and on the trees which are turning lovely shades of reds, oranges, yellows and browns. It was very warm today and we have had no rain since February so we are hoping October brings us much needed moisture for the very parched earth and flora and fauna.
Createology is our motto.