Long Winter

More snow fell during the night, and I don't know a single person who isn't winter-weary. The upside of a harsh winter is the bonus indoors time to, well, sew. On a recent snow day from school, the kids kicked back with the Wii and playing in the basement and I did some sewing.
The organic cotton modern chair fabric is a particular favorite currently. Somehow, I own quite a bit of fabric featuring chairs. I also covet robot fabric, bike prints, fairy tales and anything predominantly red.

Before the Snack

Here is Snow White, before she takes a bite of the poison apple and falls into her dreamless sleep. I'm making a series of canvas shopper bags with webbing handles and outside pockets to spotlight fabric. This side is zippered. On the reverse is an open pocket. On this bag, it shows Snow White after her snack. (The panicked dwarf is identical.)

$5.71

I recently visited the IDEA store just off of Springfield in Champaign. It is an indoor garage sale for crafters and people who like stuff and stuff. Since I fit into both categories, I had a wonderful time browsing. I rumaged; I gasped; I didn't resist. I came home with under six dollars worth of things and things: bias tape still in the packaging, interesting buttons, embroidery hoops I can use to frame fabric for the wall, vintage bingo cards for the covers of notebooks. Check out http://the-idea-store.org/ and then go visit.

New Purse

Inspired by a purse pattern I received for Christmas, I made a warm-and-snuggly, dead-of-winter bag. Corduroy and patterned velveteen make the exterior of this squared-off bag soft. A square of accent fabric on the flap of the purse is an idea straight from the pattern, as is the exterior pocket. However, I made my purse considerably smaller than designed. I also installed a zippered pocket on the inside and finished the project off with a hoop bead dangling from the lid. Next time I would sew a pocket for a pen or pencil and make the bag just a little wider so access to my goodies inside is easier.

February's Fabric

The organic cotton fabric called Free to Grow is February's fabric-of-the-month on my pouch web site. Visit www.inmyvastsparetime.com to be tempted by the bonus of free shipping.
I love the strong colors of this organic fabric. I exhausted my supply of dark gray zippers making pouches from it, though maroon or black zippers would look good as well. The lining of the tulip pouch is coordinating stripes (also organic). The smaller striped coin pouch is lined in the tulip pattern.