Christmas Cheer and Pockets to Go

Remember when I said I needed some Christmas cheer?  Well, I did get some yesterday...from all of you.  Thank you for your kind comments to me!  Also, I got home and found this in the mail from my friend, Lynn-Alamosa Quilter.

She hand pieced it and hand quilted it.  I just love it, Lynn.  Thank you so much.  You always know how to brighten my day.  And she must have sent this even before my little plea for some Christmas cheer.  For some reason, Lynn and I always seem to know when the other needs a pick-me-up, intuitively.  :-)

This was in the package, too.  I absolutely loved it, and so did Sweet Pea.  She was having a melt down when we came home, and when I opened this, the meltdown immediately stopped and she ran off with it.  She actually hung it in her room.  I had to "borrow it" to put in on the tree for the photo.  Shhh.  She loves the velvet ribbon on it!

I don't know how you do it, Lynn.  You are so busy and yet so generous.  Big hugs to you.  Thank you!!!

I thought I'd show you another finish.  Caroll, don't go having a heart attack on me or anything...this being two finishes in one week.  Haha!  I literally whipped this up last night.  You all know that Sweet Pea is getting a sewing machine for Christmas from me and Papa Pea.  Well, I decided she needed a little sewing basket with some supplies to go with it.  I have had this pattern for a while, but I haven't had time to make it.  Lynn posted photos of a project she made from the same pattern if you want to see something totally different than this.  I had picked up this fabric when I was out carousing with Caroll at the quilt shops in Grand Rapids one day.  I thought it was so cute and was going to give it to Sweet Pea with her machine.  Instead I decided to make this little caddy for her instead.

It has a zipper pocket on each side.  I have to tell you, this was the easiest zipper EVER to put in, and the finished look is so nice!  I put one of the zipper pulls on it that I got a while back from Jennie and her Etsy shop Zipit.  Sweet Pea always likes those and will enjoy this, I think.  (SisLH, did I ever send you some of these for Bitsy?  If not, I need to!)

Here is the one I put on the other side.  They both coordinate well with the cat fabric, don't you think so?  I really love this fabric.  And I think I had ordered like 50 zipper pulls way back when I bought them.  It's nice to have a stash of them to choose from during late night crafting sessions!  I'd like to have a nice stash of Jennie's zippers, too.

I did have to go out fabric shopping the other day to buy a little fabric to coordinate with this.  I probably had something in my stash, but I was too lazy to go digging for it, and I knew I wouldn't have anything "novelty-like" to go with this.  Look at this cute fabric I found!  It has little cat snacks on it, with cat names on each snack.  Then, the little gray paw prints.  So cute!  I had found some fabric with little mice on it that would have coordinated quite nicely, but I thought the irony of that might be lost on Sweet Pea.  Haha.  I also decided I wanted all of the trim to be in a third coordinating color, so I picked up the orange fabric, too.  (The pattern calls for the trim on the sides to be the same as the inside pocket fabric and the trim on the top to be the same as the fabric on the outside.)

Even the insides of the zipper pockets are lined nicely.  It's a really polished, finished look to this project.  I'm loving it.

Here are the things I got to put in it for her:  Some pins, a little wrist pin cushion, a box of bobbins, and a couple pairs of her own scissors.  I have these same scissors and love them.  She totally respects my fabric scissors and doesn't use them on paper.  I thought she might like to have her own. I was happy to find these pink breast cancer scissors.  She'll like the pink.

I think I started this project last night at about 7:30 or 8:00 p.m.  I mean, I hadn't cut anything at all and just started it last night.  I was finished by midnight.  So, it went together relatively quickly and was really fun to make. I would like to make more of them.  In fact, I e-mailed my sister today (Aunt Pea) to see if my niece might like one for storing makeup, hair stuff, etc. in.  I was thinking of making her one for Christmas, if I have the time.  I'm going to try to do that.  If you need a quick Christmas present for someone, this might do the trick.

The pattern is called Pockets to Go, and it is from Atkinson Designs (click the link to go get it).  I really, really liked this pattern.  It's very clever in terms of the construction technique.  The zipper goes in nicely, and the way you slide in the Peltex (a really stiff interfacing) is pretty cool.  Because the raw edges are covered with the binding, there is no turning or anything you need to do.  Sewing the binding around the corners is a little tricky.  You have to not be afraid to squish the box around the needle a bit.  But it wasn't too bad.  I just had trouble a couple of times keeping my seam allowance as deep as it needed to be when I rounded the corners.  But that's more my issue than the pattern's.  I would highly recommend this pattern for anyone.  I would say an intermediate sewist could easily make this.  A confident beginner can probably even handle it well.  It will make nice gifts for people!

Incidentally--and this is why I have to be careful about sewing at night, when I'm tired--I meant to make Sweet Pea the small cube, not the long skinny one.  The small cube needs 1/2 yard of two different fabrics (which is what I had of the cats and cat treat fabric).  I also had 1/2 yard of the orange, because I had decided to make my trim orange.  Well, when I started cutting, I realized I was cutting out the larger box, not the smaller box (even though this is clearly labeled in the pattern).  Shoot!  Well, it was too late to turn back, so I decided to make her the bigger box.  But the bigger box calls for 5/8 yard of each of two fabrics.  Eeek!  I was afraid I wouldn't have enough fabric.  But I was able to get all the box pieces out of 1/2 yard of each with just a bit to spare.  I could not get the trim pieces out of either.  I was too short.  But that didn't matter, because I was using a different fabric anyway for the trim.  I'm just mentioning this to let you know that you can make the larger one out of 1/2-yard cuts of fabric, as long as you go with a different colored trim.

The only thing I wish pattern designers would do would be to tell you which way to align a directional print when cutting pieces.  I was a little scared when I was cutting that I would get the cats going the wrong direction, because even though the parts are labeled in the pattern, I'm never sure how exactly they are going to go together.  It wasn't so bad with the rectangle one, because it was sort of obvious which way the pieces woudl be oriented.  But the square one would be harder to tell.

But all in all, I love this pattern.  I think Sweet Pea will be pretty excited about this.  I am looking forward to making more of these.  I'll show them to you when I get them done.  (Notice, I said WHEN, not IF.  LOL!)

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Comments

[Shelly]

How adorable. She'll be all set and ready to sew! And what were you doing up that late, young lady?

[Caroll D]

Love those ornaments. That Lynn is so sweet! I'm not on the floor yet, but I am amazed at what you get done. I love the box for Sweet Pea. That fabric is adorable! I have to laugh though, because I know what you mean about sewing when you are tired. I've made mistakes like that too. Looks like yours turned out "pretty darn good" though! Love that zipper pull. You have a wonderful day too!

[Colleen]

Hi Stephanie,
Those pockets are so cute. Interesting comment about designers telling you which way the pattern in the fabric should be aligned. That is something to think about. One thing I would be worried about is if people understood the difference between pattern alignment and grain alignment (would they get them mixed up?). I've also been reading a fabric design book and it kinds of boggles the mind how many different directional choices there are. I'm not sure how I would communicate that, ya know? Just thinking out loud...Beautiful job though!

[Terri]

Girl, you exhaust me!

[Linda in Calif.]

Wow, two projects in one week? You are really cooking with gas! This box/bag is totally awesome. The fabric is just too cute, especially with the coordinating kitty snack fabric. I would love to make one. (Someday!) Thanks for all the links.

[Peg]

I hope we have warm weather when you visit. I am going to plunk you down on a chair at the pool and make you sleep in the sun for two whole days, just so you get some rest, girl!! You do great work though! My sympathies to Brian's family; I too can't believe a whole year has gone by, and my heart breaks too over the Brians we have lost this year. I also have a hard time with both of them.

[Lynn]

That kitty fabric is too cute! And all the goodies inside look great. Way to get her hooked early!

[Allie]

Such darling ornaments - how lovely that you got some Christmas cheer in the mail!! I LOVE what you made for Sweet Pea, oh girl she's going to be so happy with that!! You did a beautiful job!

[sisLH]

I like how the P ornament looks like a P right side up and upside down. Green/Brown. Well, quit getting things now for Swt P as she is getting a sewing kit-case from us also...Also filled with scissors, pins etc haha. Yours is cuter but HOLD OFF on anything more.And no, you did not send those zipper pulls for Bitsy.