drawstring bag

One day while browsing etsy, I saw some 'sock bags' to hold your knitting (or other crafts) - and loved the draw string. My knitting (or crocheting) won't fall out.  I (hopefully) won't loose my extra needles or hooks or rulers or all of the other stuff I keep in my knitting bags.  Here's my version, heavily inspired from 'the silver pumpkin'.

The big bag is 11.5" tall, 8.5" wide, and 4" deep.  The small bag is about 8" tall, 6" wide, and 4" deep.  1 yard of outside fabric, 1 yard of lining fabric and I now have 3 bags.  I love the stripes for the lining.


The big bag will hold a baby blanket or a sweater.  The small bag will work great for socks or crochet doilies or other little projects.

This was a quick project.  I drew the pattern in 'publisher' and printed it on the plotter at work.  Fabric was cut out one night while watching tv.  Two evenings of sewing and I had 3 really cool bags.

Aren't the bicycles cute! 

I couldn't decide which to use first.  So the baby blanket is in the pink animal bag and a sweater for me is in the bike bag. 

needle book

I keep my needles stuck in a piece of scrap batting. Every time I need a needle I end up searching through all of my sewing supplies to try and find it. Is it in the yarn basket? Is it in the other basket with yarn, scrap fabric, and a few patterns? Is it in the sewing supplies bin? Is it in the Ziploc bag of sewing machine needles? Or did I just drop them in my pin box when after I used it last time.  (It's always fun to search through the pin box for a needle!)  And when did I use a needle last? ... maybe it's still with that project.

It's always an adventure.

Last year when looking for new projects on blogs, I came across an entry on 'Twin Fibers" where she mentioned making a needle book with her daughter.  (She points you to a tutorial by "Sew She Sews" here.)  A book for needles.  With a pocket that could hold little scissors or thread.  This could be my solution to where are my needles.  Or at least a 'book' is bigger than a scrap of batting to look for.

I pulled out my scraps of 'Whimsy' while I was procrastinating working on taxes a few weekends ago  on a Saturday morning when I was in the mood to sew.  Lucky me, I had one square that wasn't used in the quilt, and it would be perfect for this project.  I cut it in half and had two 6" x 12" rectangles to make two needle books with.  Not quite the size mentioned in the tutorial, but it worked out just fine.

One book has the 'pink honeycomb' fabric for pockets, the other has the 'blue honeycomb'.   I really like the stripe the top of the pocket is bound in.

A couple hours of cutting, ironing, and sewing and I had two needle cases.  I hand sewed the bias binding.  (I have not mastered the 'machine binding' skill.)   I think it took longer to get the snaps on correctly than it did to hand sew it. (Note to self: a snap press would be a really groovy gift.)

Now to start searching for where my needles are.