Finally a crafty weekend!

It felt good this weekend to get a lot of crafty project done!  ***Ann and Ava don't read this; it's got SPOILERS!***

1) Remade my phone case for running.  The sides were too tight, so I ripped it out and sewed it back together with a different technique.  It works great now, especially when hubby demo'ed it for me when I finished it.  Love that guy.

2) Made my baby niece a Buttercup bag and ruffled clutch for her birthday in May (extra yay for getting it done early.  Buttercup pattern is here, clutch pattern is here, and fabric is Always & Forever by Deb Strain for Moda fabrics

3) Made a Dr. Seuss taggy blanket for my other sister's bun-in-the-oven

4) Quilted a set of 4 mug rugs that I originally intended to hand quilt.  Yeah, that went no where.  I still need to bind these.  Fabric is Awesome by Sandy Gervais and pattern is by Sweetwater

All on top of being sick!  Also, my Halloween quilt is on its way to Mom's to be quilted.  I have my Christmas mystery BOM out now to work on.

My new lunch bag

I made a new lunch bag to take to my part-time retail job.  I was bringing my lunch to work in a left over grocery bag, and it was hard to distinguish it from the 20 other grocery bag lunches in the fridge with it.  I don't think I can miss this one!

It's made with two different patterned oil cloth (what's the plural of oil cloth?!?) and lined with a shower curtain.  It's insulated with InsulBrite from the Warm Company, and it's used for thermal insulation-keeping cold things cold!  (Hopefully.)  I used this tutorial from The Long Thread.  I altered mine from the pattern by making mine wider, changing the strap, and adding a top flap.  I wanted to used waterproof material so I could wipe it down to clean it if it got messy.  The strap I actually cannibalized off one of those reusable bags you buy at the grocery store. 

This was my first time using oil cloth and shower curtain in sewing.  I found it a lot easier to work with the products than I was expecting.  It's stiffer, which is nice for the structure of the bag, but sewing and cutting it wasn't hard at all.  The problem came when I turned the bag right side out.  My shower curtain liner ripped more and more as I turned the bag right side out to finish it.  There ended up being a rip in the lining about 7 inches long.  So, I just got some red duct tape to cover it up.  It matches, so it's all good...Right?

I originally wanted red apples instead of green apples on the oil cloth, but I was sent the green by mistake.  My husband says it looks fine, and it's grown on me now.  I'm excited to use it at work!

My envelope system

I saw a picture of the coupon holder on Jaybird Quilts's blog, I wanted to make it.  I don't really use coupons, but I wanted to make something like this to hold receipts and cash for our budget.  The tutorial is on Moda Bake shop's site.  They have other great projects too.  I'm probably going to make Jaybird's giant pincushion soon.

Jaybird Quilts Coupon Clutch Tutorial

Jaybird Quilts Giant Pincushion Tutorial

 I used half of a charm pack of Awesome by Sandy Gervais.  I used the included PDF card stock dividers, but I flipped them over and wrote my own categories that match our budget categories.