Train bag (a pain in my caboose)

I stayed in last night in an attempt to get a Christmas gift for my nephew done.  The back story is here, but the abridged version is the boy has enough toy trains to fill a tub. 

or swimming pool. 

or any other arbitrary 'large' object. 

He brings them with him everywhere, and they inevetably end up under someone's feet. 

Bad news for the trains, and bad news for the feet.

Since we are gifitng on a budget this year - I pulled out my stash of train fabric and went to work.

I got about 1/2 way done (hopefully that was the hard half since it involved a zipper, some swear words and a seem ripper.)

My brain fizzled out around 10:00pm .

I had to walk away and complete some flickr/blog therapy at about 10:30pm.

Today is a new day, however. 

I've had my coffee and ready for the final face off with Thomas and Friends...

 ______________________________________________

Edit: 12/17/11 6:00PM  

I win ... I WIN!!

I am happy to say it's all done!

..and it's my first successful zipper install!  

The artsy fartsy shot of the zipper.

Just don't look too close - it's a bit, special.

Fabric: Assorted Thomas the Tank Character Fabric
Pattern: Tutorial by Anna from Noodleheads

Men in tights? (aka his & hers stockings)

I've spent a good portion of my free time this week working on a project that is a full year overdue, and it has a song stuck in my head. 

Needless to say I am relieved to have the project done and that song gone from my poor brain. What project you ask? Ahhh, well let me tell you!

Even though last year year was T and my first married Christmas together, we kept it pretty minimalistic.

This year, however, in addition to our little 3ft artificial tree and some homemade decorations...

...we will have our very own stockings!

I had gathered some inspiration from pictures and images over the last month, and had a pretty specific mental image of what I wanted to make.

 

1. Etsy: Meringue Designs 2.Swim, Bike, Sew! 3. Fresh Lemon Quilts 4. Etsy: Lil Tulip 

I knew I wanted them to look like a set, but to each be unique. I also knew I had fabric leftover from my table runner project. Hubby  requested squares and even humored me when I asked him to "pick 6" from a pile of fabric (he has this weird aversion to making fabric choices). 

My vision and my ability do not always quite match though, so I was a bit worried that I was going to fudge seam allowances or misjudge curves and end up with an amorphous blob, but I think I did all right, for making it up as I went along! 

His and Hers Stockings :)

Once I got the front and back pieced I used a tutorial here from Allison of Cluck Cluck Sew to do the lining. Look ma! No raw edges! I did have a moment of sewer's regret when I realized I had sewn the hanging loop on the first one backwards and upside down. D'oh!!

I was so annoyed at the error that I forgot to take a "keeping it real" photo. Trust me, it was pitiful. But I got it (sort of) fixed and made sure to pin more carefully on the second time around.

I am really quite pleased with how they turned out. I hope I made them well enough, and chose a neutral enough design that they will last us a long time. But, once I do have to make more, I know I'll be up for the task, and that is a really great feeling.

I am going to try to rally some energy up tonight to get a gift sewn for my nephew.

Are you doing any last minute holiday sewing or crafting?  

Friday Night Sew In (12/9/2011)

 I had a pretty hot date last night. Well, of the sewing variety anyway.


I made myself a cup of hot cider, 2.5" ruler, and copy paper,
put on Miracle on 34th Street and got to work!

I originally signed up to do 16 of these blocks (they are a 6.5 inch version of this tutorial), back in October.

They go together really quickly.

I got 10 completely sewn and trimmed, and still have lots of strips cut and ready to go.
 

Oh, and the fact that my drawer of scraps is not overflowing anymore? That feels pretty darn good :)

I have a sneaky suspicion that I'm going to stop once I hit 16...