I can't believe we are halfway through January already! I've been cleaning out cupboards, donating plenty of unused items and tossing some things that I have no idea why I've been keeping. Haven't gotten to my sewing/craft room yet - I USE most of that stuff! It is inevitable though - that room definitely needs a cleaning. Maybe I should give away some of that inherited perle cotton to good homes!
I saw another bag pattern I had to try. (Surprise, surprise.) I think I've been making tatting bags too large. One only needs a fairly small bag - silly me - and I wanted to make a tatting bag that I could add a little tatted motif to. I have several bags, but I should probably have a tatting bag for each project I'm working on - ha!
This is Joy McKenzie's Dorset Bag Pattern
An easy, perfect little drawstring bag with pockets for tatting projects.
The flaps cover the outside pockets to protect whatever is inside, and are also the perfect place to add a motif. I tried the pattern a few times, making it smaller each time. The pattern uses 20" squares, so I started with 20" and tried 18" and 16" also. I liked the size of the bag made with 16" squares, so I made this little heart to stitch onto the flap.
This will be Motif #9 of my 2nd 25-Motif Challenge,
using light pink/mauve perle cotton size 12.
Tatted Heart pattern on page 36 of the new Handy Hands catalog.
And our weather here continues to provide us with record-breaking snowfalls. It seems like it snows every other day! Road conditions continue to be the worst during rush hour (of course) or on Saturdays (go figure).
Our average annual winter season snowfall is 56.3 inches. We are already at 52.6 inches, and we have a good 2-1/2 months left of our snow season! I think we will be shattering the record. It's been crazy - snowing a few inches a couple of times a week. Since I have to endure the snow, I am going to explore snowshoeing in a couple of weeks. Now THAT should be interesting.
***TWIN CITIES TATTERS GROUP Update
For our January gathering, I've been pleasantly surprised with more inquiries. I knew the holidays would stop people from starting a new thing, but I didn't think there would be so many inquiries right away in January. This is great - our gathering next Saturday should include about 5 this time - pretty good to double the group at the 2nd meeting :) We will work on the SSSR as well as teaching beginners.
I love that little bag pattern, and I plan on making one soon. Back in the early 90s, I used a similar pattern to make bags for my daughters to carry their p.e. uniforms in. I can't believe how many of them I made! I think they'd be great for tatting!
ReplyDeleteThis is my favorite bag for tatting - or any needlecraft. In fact, I've been using one lately which I got at a tat day somewhere. It's a bit too big for my purse but I put it in my work bag which is just a walmart recycle bag that I use to haul things around in.
ReplyDeleteyou won't believe how much I love this!!! both the motif and the bag! I have so much fabric, and now I am going to make some, like you said, a bag for each project, and I doooooooo love bags!
ReplyDeleteBree
..such a cute bag! love the colors!
ReplyDeleteI love the material you used to make that bag! How talented you are! I can tell you now that if we had 52 inches of snow down here, we'd be snowbound for the entire winter - 5" shut us down for a week!
ReplyDeleteHi Cindy!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great bag! I hadn't seen that pattern before. The heart motif is SO pretty! I've been thinking of Valentine's - not because I WANT to, but because my 4th grader keeps asking me for a shoe box - guess I'm going to have to go buy some shoes!
I agree - I think I need a fleet of bags for my tatting/embroidery/hand sewing projects - that way I can just snatch up what I am in the mood for.
Can't EVEN IMAGINE that much snow!!!!!
:) Ann
Looks like I might need to get out my sewing machine!! Looks great.
ReplyDeleteYour bag looks good, and dresses up nicely with that heart, which fits very nicely on the flap there.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of snow! We were happy to get about 5" which did shut a few schools down. We usually get less than 2 inches at a time though once in a great while we have a lot more. The kids have been loving the sledding - if they can find a slope to go down: )