Travel Fun

Vacation Time!

My sister (Lou) and her crew have been on vacation this week! When they were in the planning stages, Lou mentioned that she thought a backpack would be easier to handle instead of a regular purse. My ears perked up and I, of course, said "No problem, I can make you a simple drawstring one." As I pondered the idea, I was afraid that  the drawstrings wouldn't be enough cushion for her, so I went to Pinterest and found convertible bags! These are super cool, however, not exactly what I wanted or had the supplies for. So I did a bit of pattern squishing and made a trial bag. the straps pull up so it can be either a backpack or a shoulder bag. Abby loved hers, but Lou requested a couple changes- such as a water bottle pocket and a tab for the inside pocket (which fit her phone perfectly - rather amazing since I didn't measure it at all.)

                             When I brought Abby's bag over to the house AC was teasing that he needed one too, so Aunt Bobbie decided  to oblige. I ended up making one for each of the boys. 

Lou texted me the first day and said
it works great

Then Lou mentioned that she could use a travel pillow as well. I found this  dog bone one on Pinterest - it was very simple to make. I stuffed it with fluff and poly pellets (that I picked up at a garage sale for 25 cents a bag.) 

Whilst looking for the dog bone pillow I came across these seatbelt pillows.  Their vacation is a Road Trip so each of the kidlets needed one! I used fabric on hand except for Miah's- but I had a coupon for 70 cent fat quarters at JoAnn's so I only spent $1.40 on it. I aslo made the two little boys snap coin purses from Sew Can She or as we call them "Grandpa coin purses"  but I seem to have forgotten to take pictures.

Well that was dumb!
I stitched the entire pillow
right side to wrong side
My seam Ripper got a work out

Elijah's pillow even has a "DogDog"pocket

I got a wee bit carried away with the travel sewing and made a toiletry bag for Lou- the one she had was given to her like 20 years ago and had seen better days. I used this tutorial which is not in English Thanks to Google translate I was able to figure it out. I used a Priority Mail Tyvek envelope for the

I also made a small zipper bag to match

top and bottom interfacing and the cover from a coloring book for the sides. I was able to scavenge the hardware and strap from the original bag. I should really record Lou's reactions- they are always the best, she makes gift giving fun!

Show and Tell

I just got a notice
 that I had new followers- and much to my chagrin I haven't posted in ForEVER! However, I have been sewing like a fiend ( how exactly do fiends sew? - They prolly don't have time in between being fiendish. ? ?)  So I decided to just do a quick show & tell today and save all the fun extras and whys and wherefores for later

 Get ready for picture overload!

Seatbelt pillows

Elijah's has a pocket for Dog Dog

Drawstring Backpacks

Splendid Sampler 2

Bags 

 UFO from 2015  that is now gifted!

Professional Tote Bag (my version) 

Can you guess what profession :)

Garment Bag! 

 There you have it! Actually I know there are quite a few projects missing from this show, I will have to search out the pictures and possibly have the gifted photographed- I'll try to post all the fun stuff soon!
Have a great day-
 back to sewing- Sherman and I have 2 more pillows and one more bag to make this week!