They say "plastic lasts forever "

Hello, everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. 

I was organizing things and opened a drawer that doesn't get much attention. 

These fragments are plastic. (Probably a bag from a forgotten store.) They were in a climate controlled place in the dark. I guess "forever" isn't very long, is it?

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year, going to go dump out the plastic bits. 😀 

Christmas good wishes to all

Hello, everyone.

Adoration of the Shepherds

 Merry Christmas to all, and a happy and prosperous New Year!

It's been quite a while since I made this

Hello, everyone. Today, for (late) breakfast I made tortilla de rabano, with berenjena. (Radish with eggplant) 

Little bits of red bell pepper and cut up radish leaves for pretty, too.

Yum!

A quick little project

Hello, everyone.  This is a gift bag, sized to fit the gift, I hope, as there was no box that was just right in the house.

A materials from stash: quilting cotton for the navy paisley and the lining, plus satin ribbon left over from DD1's wedding several years back. 

I cut 2 16" squares in the paisley and the (not visible) mint-green dots, sewed the lining together around three sides, marked the openings on the outer fabric and sewed them. Remembered that the bag would need to be turned and opened a turning opening in the lining side seam. Used the sleeve board for pressing seams open--worked great! Sewed the top edge, turned and pressed, edge stitched the turning opening closed, then used my Chaco liner to mark the upper and lower seams of the casing. Sewed the casing seams and inserted the ribbons. 

I really enjoy making gift bags like this, and when they get re-used over and over I enjoy the project all over again. 

A new finish! (edited)

Hello, everyone. It's been busy around the place,  but things are starting to get more predictable. 

Some while back, I started working on a new kind of bag. (It's a gift but I hope the recipient doesn't look here, because I really want to put up the picture.)

This is a pattern from Moda, for a French pocket. Ladies who like to dress up in medieval, Renaissance, or fantasy costumes like to have one for their small sundries. The Victoria and Albert museum in Great Britain also has a pattern,  which in its essentials is the same. Moda's contribution was incorporating pieced hexies with English style paper piecing. I discarded the hand piecing method and did Y seams on my sewing machine. This technique is useful and making the fabric for the front  was a good practice session.

The front, after piecing, interfacing (Shapeflex), lining, and a zipper being added

I made an interior slip pocket. This was taken before it was attached to the back.

As it's a waist tied pocket, I did the binding on the bag first, then added an apron style waist tie. Binding was cut (2.5" nope) 2.25", waist tie was cut 3".

The hexies were cut from charm squares with my hexagon template. If I make it again (and I might) I will just use a single piece for the front, skipping all the drama of choosing a pretty layout. 

I did end up with some bonus hexies that might decorate a tea towel some time. Or another bag!