bag lady and baby blankets

You wouldn’t know it from my lack of posts around here, but I’ve been sewing up a storm! I’ve made a bunch of skirts and have now moved on to other fun, like reusable shopping bags. I’m of the opinion that you can never have too many reusable shopping bags. It lessens the odds that you will forget to take them to the store, because surely, out of the zillions, one will be left in your car, right?

My favorite shopping bags are Envirosax. They come in adorable colors and fold up into handy little pouches, and they hold as much stuff as four plastic grocery bags, without a risk of the bottom ripping out. Thanks to a 99 cent sale at Hobby Lobby, I scored a pattern, McCall’s 6130 that gives my trusty Envirosax a run for their money. And as a bonus, I finally found a use for the adorable apple printed cotton duck fabric that I just had to buy when it was on sale but found too stiff for clothes. The bags were pretty easy to make, and my only issues are that the small size bag is just way small. I’ll probably not make any of those again. And I might also find some way to line the bags or create a facing so I don’t have to apply bias tape to the handles. It looks nice, but it’s tedious. Overall, though, I think the bags are great, and I’m pretty proud of the way they turned out. I already got some more fabric and am planning on making a few sets to give away as Christmas gifts.

A few days ago, I discovered the awesomeness that is The Purl Bee, the inspiring how-to blog of Purl Soho, a knitting/sewing/quilting/embroidery shop in NYC that I’m now dreaming of visiting. I spent an entire afternoon just browsing through the site, pinning projects I want to try to my sewing inspiration board on Pinterest (another new obsession). One project I knew I wanted to try was the Cozy Quick Blankie, as I have a new nephew making his way into the world in September. The Purl Bee’s tutorial was easy to follow, and the only modification I made was to use flannel on one side instead of cotton knitted fleece, as my fabric store options around here don’t carry that sort of thing. The blankie went together in about an hour, and that’s only because I accidentally had the fabric wrong side out and noticed halfway through pinning it together and had to start over. This would be an easy project for a very beginning sewist. I’m really happy with the way the project turned out: